Anyone But You
by hxchick
Summary: Dave and JJ's feelings for each other grow, but what does Dave's daughter have to say about it? OC, multi-chapter non-canon.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Anyone But You-Chapter 1

**~This is NOT the next story in the 'Unconventional Family' and 'Happily Ever After' Universe...hopefully I'll begin that story sometime in August. **

**~This is another mini-epic that I have no business writing since I'm currently working on 'Family Ties,' but Kdzl talked to me about writing a story like this and the idea kind of stuck. **

**~A big thanks to Kdzl who helped me outline this story and who encouraged me to write it in the first place. Without her, I never would have started this story. **

* * *

><p>David Rossi was talking to his friend and one-time mentee when his cell phone rang. He grabbed it off of his belt, looked down at the caller id and sighed; it was his best friend who also happened to be the principal of his daughter's school.<p>

"Hey Jimmy, what's up?" Dave asked, hoping it was a social call. It wasn't.

"Hi Davey, I wish I was calling just to chat, but I have Lucy in my office," the priest said.

Dave sighed, "What did she do this time?" Lucy was his fifteen year old daughter and while Dave loved her more than life itself, he wished he could go longer than a month without getting a phone call from her school.

"She was caught smoking in the girl's room," Jimmy told him. "Look Davey, I can't let this one go. If it was just one of her stupid little pranks, I could give her detention and be done with it, but Sister Rosa caught her and she's out for blood."

"So what happens now?" Dave asked.

"I have to suspend her for three days, not counting the rest of today," Jimmy said.

"Jesus Jimmy! Three days! What will that do to her grades?" Dave's daughter wasn't a bad student; she had a solid B average, but something like this could really hit her GPA hard.

"Well, normally when a student is suspended, they aren't able to make up any work or tests they miss, but since this is her first _suspendable _offense, I'll see to it that she's able to make everything up."

"Well that's something," Dave muttered. "Do you need me to pick her up?"

Jimmy nodded, forgetting his friend couldn't see him. "I'll be waiting out front with her," he told his friend. While he was the principal of Lucy's school, he was also a close friend of the family and practically an uncle to her and he wanted to have some words with her, not as her principal but as a family member who cared about her.

"Okay," Dave said. "I'll be there in about twenty minutes." He disconnected the phone and turned to his boss.

"What did she do now?" Hotch asked with a smirk.

"Smoking in the bathroom," he told him.

"Oooh, that's better than last week's Vaseline on the faculty bathroom's toilet seats," Emily said as she came up behind Hotch.

"Or last month's soap in the school's front fountain," Hotch remembered.

"Yeah, well, neither of those two pranks got her suspended for three days," Dave told them. "I've gotta go pick her up, so I'll be gone for an hour, Hotch."

"Are you going to bring her back here?" He asked and Dave nodded.

"I'm sure as hell not going to take her home where she can watch TV and go online. She's going to know that this is _not _a vacation," he said as he headed for the elevators.

xxxxxxxxxx

Twenty minutes later, Dave pulled up to the front doors of St. Catherine's Academy and found his best friend and daughter waiting for him. Jimmy wore an expression of frustration, while Lucy looked fairly indifferent to everything. He watched as Jimmy hugged her and then Lucy walked up to the SUV and got into the front seat.

"Hi dad, how's it going?" She asked as she buckled her seatbelt.

"Well let me tell you how it's going, Lucy," he said through clenched teeth. "My morning was fairly uneventful until I got a call saying my daughter was caught smoking on school grounds and was suspended for three days. After that, it kind of took a nose dive."

"Sorry," she said as she looked out the car window. She was surprised her dad even came to pick her up, he was usually so busy with work and other stuff that they barely saw each other. Even though it was just the two of them, they only ate dinner together once or twice a week, even less if he was out of town on a case. Lucy figured he'd have one of the FBI interns pick her up and take her home.

"Are you sorry for smoking, or are you sorry that you got caught?" He asked.

"I don't know…both?" She said. "Come on dad, I know I shouldn't have done it on school grounds, but who cares if I smoked? It's not a big deal."

"Dammit Lucy, your grandmother _died _of lung cancer less than three years ago! You saw what it did to her, how she wasted away in the end, is that really how you want to end up?"

"That's not going to happen to me," Lucy said, her feelings of teenage invincibility shining through.

"You're goddamned right it's not, because if I so much as _think _you've smoked again, I'll turn you over to your grandfather and let him deal with you."

Lucy paled at that threat; she loved her grandfather but she knew he would kill her if he knew she had smoked. "Okay, I get it, I won't do it again."

"Good," Dave said firmly. "And in order to drive this lesson home, not only will you be coming to the BAU with me for the next three days, you're also grounded for two weeks."

"But dad," Lucy protested, "Mom's coming to town this weekend and I'm supposed to stay with her!"

"Too bad, you should have thought of that _before _you lit up," he said, shaking his head.

"Come on dad, I _never _get to see mom, you HAVE to let me go this weekend. _Please_!" She begged with tears in her voice.

'Damn,' Dave thought to himself. His daughter was right, even though they had a custody agreement, Lucy's mother Angela rarely followed it. He doubted that Lucy saw her mother for more than five days total over the past year and he really didn't want to keep them apart, but what was he supposed to do? He didn't want Lucy to think that it was okay to smoke, especially on school grounds, but he also didn't want to keep her from her mother. He finally sighed and nodded his head.

"Okay," he said, "You can stay with your mother this weekend-" she squealed and hugged him as he drove. "_But_ I'm extending your grounding so that it covers two full weekends and during those weekends, you'll write a report on the dangers of smoking. The report will be no less than 2,000 words and I don't want to see Wikipedia as the only source. At the end of the second weekend, you'll turn it in to me and if it is anything less than 'A' work, I'll extend your grounding. Got it?"

"Yes sir," she mumbled, thinking that maybe this wasn't such a sweet deal after all.

"Good," he said as he pulled into his parking space. They both got out of the car and went into the building, neither one of them very happy.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Anyone But You-Chapter 2

**~Season 6 didn't happen in this story. JJ didn't leave, there was no Ian Doyle, Emily didn't 'die,' and Ashley didn't play a part.**

**~Thanks again to Kdzl for all of her help with this story!**

* * *

><p>"Smoking in the girl's room, huh?" Derek asked with a grin as he entered the conference room with Emily in tow. Lucy had been there for nearly four hours, ever since her dad had sat her down in there and referred to it as her home away from home for the next three days. She had run out of schoolwork to do within the first two hours so she was reading a trashy chick-lit novel.<p>

"Yeah, Sister Rosa wasn't too impressed with me; I forgot she has the nose of a bloodhound," Lucy responded as she set her book down.

"See, you have to make sure there's a window in the bathroom and blow the smoke out of it in order to not get caught," Emily advised and both Lucy and Derek looked at her with stunned expressions. "What, did you think I was born an FBI agent?" She asked. "I was a bit of a hell raiser when I was a teen."

"You know what my daughter doesn't need?" A new voice asked. "Lessons in how to be a troublemaker. Believe me, she could teach a course." Dave entered the room with a scowl on his face and the look deepened when he saw what his daughter was reading.

"Shouldn't you be working on your schoolwork?" He asked as he flipped through the chick lit book.

Lucy shrugged, "I finished everything I had with me and I can't do much else until Father Jimmy emails you the rest of my assignments."

"Believe me, you'll have them by tomorrow morning," Dave said. "Until then, you can start working on the paper you owe me. I'll send Garcia up with one of her laptops and she can help you log on to the wifi system."

"Fine," Lucy said quietly, trying not to let her disappointment come through in her voice. She hadn't expected her father to be happy with her, but they spent such little time together as it was and she was hoping if she had to be stuck here, he would at least let her work in his office, but instead he had left her to fend for herself in the sanitized conference room. Worse than that, he was foisting her onto his team members and she found herself blinking back tears as he, Derek and Emily left the room.

xxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, Lucy was nearly bored to tears; who knew that smoking was such a boring topic? Just as she was about to make a break for it, under the guise of visiting the ladies room, the door to the conference room opened.

"Need a break?" Garcia said as she came into the room with a large bag of chips and two cans of soda.

"You read my mind," Lucy said as she closed the borrowed laptop.

"So a 2,000 word paper for your dad, huh?" The older woman asked as she opened her own can of Pepsi and took a drink.

"Yeah, dad's all about me 'learning something' while I'm grounded," Lucy said, making air quotes with her fingers. "He can't be like normal parents and just leave me alone when I'm on restriction, no, he has to be all up in my face."

"So what happens when he's out of town and you're grounded?" The tech analyst asked.

"You mean what usually happens, since dad is _always _out of town?" Lucy snarked. "That's even worse. Since dad doesn't trust me to stay by myself, nor does he know anyone who can stay with me, I'm stuck at school while he's away."

"What?" Garcia asked in horror.

Lucy nodded, "Yeah, my school is a boarding school, but I'm mostly a daytime resident. Anyway, dad worked something out with Father Jimmy so I stay in one of the guest rooms in the dorm when he's away on a case or on a book tour and God it _sucks_!"

"What about your grandfather? Can't he look after you when your dad's not around?" Garcia asked. She knew Dave's dad lived in town because she had met the man at one of the team gatherings a few months prior.

"No," Lucy said as she popped a couple of chips into her mouth, "Grandpa Gio lives in a retirement center and that would probably be worse than staying in the dorms at school."

"Yeah, it probably would," Penelope agreed.

They were both silent for a minute as they ate their snacks and then Lucy, who had been staring out of the conference room windows, saw her dad enter the BAU bullpen carrying a toddler in his arms.

"Who's that?" She asked and Garcia followed her eyes.

"That's Henry Jareau, JJ's son."

"God, he's grown. What, is he like two or three now?" Lucy asked, her eyes still on her dad, who was now making his way up to his office.

"He just turned three," Garcia confirmed. "Your dad has become good friends with JJ and he usually picks Henry up from daycare and brings him to his office until JJ's finished with her work and then they all walk out together." Just then, Penelope's phone beeped and she stood up and gathered up her things. "Gotta go, one of my searches is done running, I'm sure I'll see you later this week." With that, Garcia left and Lucy was alone with her thoughts.

Her dad picked Henry up from daycare every day? _She_ had to get suspended from school in order for her dad to pick her up, but someone who wasn't even his flesh and blood got the royal treatment every afternoon? How was that fair? From the looks of it, her father was totally enraptured by the little boy and he was setting him up with a coloring book and crayons at the table near his sofa, the table _she'd _wanted to work at! What the fuck? How did this kid rate better than her? Sure, she and her dad didn't always get along, but she'd always thought it was because he just wasn't a kid person, but it turns out he was, he just wasn't a kid person with _her_.

Just as she was about to give in to her tears, she saw JJ climb the stairs and knock on her dad's office opened office door. She stepped through and Lucy saw the loving look her dad wore on his face and she immediately knew it was worse than she thought; Garcia was wrong, JJ and her dad weren't just 'good friends,' they were smitten with each other! She may not have been a profiler, but Lucy remembered the look on her dad's face from wife number three, the one he thought was his soul mate. He was totally enamored with JJ and, from the looks of it, JJ wasn't exactly giving him the cold shoulder either.

This was bad, really bad. Even though they had been divorced for over six years, and they hadn't seen each other more than four or five times since then, Lucy had always harbored a deep hope that her mom and dad would get back together some day and she knew by the look on her dad's face that JJ could ruin all of that. He hadn't even looked at wife number three that lovingly!

Along with her desire to see her parents reconcile, Lucy was also instantly jealous of the blonde media liaison. She barely got to spend any time with her dad as it was, between the never-ending cases and his book tours, and now she was going to have to share him with JJ and her son? God, maybe she should just become a full-time boarder at her school and be done with it!

As she watched them, she saw that the three of them had left his office and were making their way towards the conference room, all the while looking like a happy little family. Lucy quickly re-opened the laptop and pretended to be diligently typing away at her research paper. She didn't look up when the door opened.

"How's it coming, Luce?" She heard her dad ask.

"Fine," she responded. "You wouldn't believe how many sources there are that warn about the dangers of smoking."

"That right there should clue you in as to why I was so mad this morning," he said as he set Henry down. The little boy stayed near Dave and stared at Lucy, trying to place her in his memory.

The teen finally looked up and saw JJ, Henry and her dad standing together and she swallowed hard to get rid of the lump in her throat. It was like the skit on Sesame Street where they had four things together and one of them didn't belong…in this scenario, _she _was what didn't belong.

"Hi Lucy, how are you?" JJ asked warmly. She had met the girl numerous times since Dave had returned to the BAU and she remembered that she was pretty friendly. That's why she was taken aback by Lucy's greeting.

"Hello JJ, I'm fine, thank you," she said stiffly, not making eye contact. Dave heard the unfriendly greeting as well, but he just rolled his eyes and chalked up to her teenage moodiness.

"Have you met my son Henry?" JJ asked as she took the boy by the hand and led him the few steps to where Lucy was sitting. "Henry, this is Lucy, Dave's daughter."

Henry, who had been sizing the teen up, broke into a toothy grin. "Hi Lucy!" He exclaimed and any jealousy that Lucy had felt towards the boy instantly vanished. God this kid was cute! And really, she couldn't blame him for garnering her father's attention. No, the blame for that fell solely on JJ's shoulders; maybe if she paid more attention to her kid, her father wouldn't have to step in and do it. Maybe if she wasn't so busy trying to figure out the best way into her father's pants, she could focus more on her parenting! Lucy pushed those thoughts out of her head as she reached down and held her hand out to Henry.

"Nice to meet you, Henry," she said with a smile on her face. The smile widened when Henry giggled and shook the offered hand.

"I thought the four of us could grab some dinner on the way home," Dave said.

"But I'm grounded," Lucy said, not anxious to share a meal with the woman who she saw as the enemy.

"So?" Dave asked, "That doesn't mean you're on a bread and water diet."

"It might as well," the teen grumbled.

"That can be arranged," Dave responded tightly, glaring at her. Lucy had forgotten that he had ears like a bat and if she thought he was going to feel bad about grounding her, she was sorely mistaken.

"Fine," Lucy said with a sigh, "Let's go out to eat."

"YAY!" Henry yelled, clapping his hands. His reaction lessened some of the tension between Lucy and her dad and it was a happier group that left the BAU that evening.


	3. Chapter 3

Anyone But You-Chapter 3

* * *

><p>Things were somewhat back to normal by Friday; Lucy was back in school and Dave was relieved not to have her at the BAU all day. It wasn't that he didn't want her there, he was just constantly worried that she would be exposed to some of the horrors he saw on a daily basis and he did NOT want that for her. Sure, she would be there every day after four o'clock, but he would only have to protect her for a few hours.<p>

Lucy, who was currently in her dad's office working on her homework, wasn't exactly pleased to be stuck at the BAU, let alone her dad's office, but it was better than her former exile to the conference room; at least now she got to spend time with her dad, even if the time spent was quietly as she worked on her schoolwork and he worked on the seemingly never-ending paperwork. What was up with that anyway, she wondered. Wasn't being an FBI agent all about chasing down the bad guys? Why did he have so many files on his desk? Since she needed a break, she decided to ask him about it.

"So what's up with all of the paperwork?"

"What?" Dave asked as he raised his head and looked towards the back of his office where his daughter sat sprawled out on the sofa. She'd been so quiet that he'd forgotten she was there.

"Well, you always make it sound like you're going after the bad guys but it looks to me like you spend most of your time doing paperwork."

"Tell me about it," he muttered and then sighed. "I usually _am_ out chasing down the bad guys but it's been a slow week for us, so the higher ups are piling on the paperwork. Once we get a case again the work won't be so bad."

"Well that's good, I'd hate to think you abandon me so you can sit at a desk and fill out forms," Lucy said and then she saw the look on her dad's face. "I was just kidding dad," she said but a part of her wasn't; a part of her _did _feel abandoned by her dad when he went to do his job but since she was going to ask him for a favor later that night, she didn't want to push it with him.

Dave was about to say more, but then he glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly five o'clock. "I've gotta go get Henry, wanna come with?"

The _last_ thing she wanted to do was go and pick up JJ's kid; sure he was cute and she liked him but she would be damned if she did any favors for the woman who was jeopardizing her parents eventual reconciliation. "I'll pass," she told him, but he had other ideas.

"I'm sorry if that sounded like a suggestion, because it wasn't," he told her. "I don't want you in here by yourself, so get up and come with me to the daycare."

"Why can't I stay here? I stayed in the conference room by myself for three days."

"Yeah and there was very little you could get into in the conference room, but my phone is here, not to mention my computer and sensitive case files, so I'll say it again; you're coming with me."

"Fine," she grumbled as she got to her feet, "But do you have to use the term 'get into?' You make me sound like I'm Henry's age."

"Sorry, does 'wreak havoc with' sound better?" He asked with a smirk as they waited for the elevator.

"Surprisingly it does," she answered back with a smile. Her smile faded once they were in the elevator.

"I'll keep that in mind," Dave said as the doors shut.

"Why do we have to eat dinner at JJ's tonight?" The teen whined and Dave was astounded by how fast she changed the subject.

"Because she wants to return the favor after I took all of us out to dinner on Monday night," he told her. "Besides, it gets you out of the house, even though you're grounded and it saves me a night of cooking, not to mention that JJ is a good friend of mine and I would like to spend more time with her outside of work."

And there was the problem for Lucy; the absolute _last _thing she wanted was for her dad and JJ to spend time together outside of work. 'Good friend' her ass! She knew her dad felt more than that for JJ and she was fairly certain the feeling was mutual and Lucy couldn't have that! Her parents had been divorced for years and she knew if they were going to get back together, it had to be fairly soon; each month they spent apart only drove them further from each other and for this Jezebel to come in and ruin it…well, there was no way that was going to happen.

"I just want to go home and relax tonight," she whined as the elevator stopped at their floor.

"Can it, Lucy," Dave said firmly as they entered the daycare area. "This is happening tonight, whether you like it or not." At that moment, young Henry Jareau spotted one of his favorite people.

"Dave!" He exclaimed as he ran towards the older man. Dave knelt down on one knee and waited for the boy to jump into his arms. Henry, knowing the routine, launched himself at the waiting profiler and Dave picked him up. The two hugged and then, while still in Dave's arms, Henry turned towards the teen.

"Lucy, you're still here!" He exclaimed happily.

"Of course I am, Munchkin, I told you I would be," she said with a smile. As much as she despised his mother, Henry Jareau was twenty different kinds of cute and she doubted if Satan himself could hate the little boy.

"I know, but sometimes mommy says she'll be someplace but she doesn't show up because she's out getting the bad guy," he told her.

"I know the feeling, little guy," Lucy mumbled. She thought she'd said it quietly, but she got a glare from her father in return.

"Oh!" The toddler exclaimed as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I drawed this for you!" He handed Lucy the paper and she unfolded it and found a drawing of blue sky with a sun in the corner and a large house. In front of the house stood four people. "That's mommy and me and Dave and you!" He told her as he pointed everyone out.

Lucy, who had never gotten a drawing made especially for her by a little kid, found herself choking up a little. If only Henry wasn't a package deal with JJ!

"This is great Henry, thanks! I'm going to put this on my bedroom wall as soon as I get home."

"Really?" He beamed.

"Really."

xxxxxxxxxx

An hour later, they were all in the kitchen helping JJ prepare a meal of baked chicken and mashed potatoes. While Lucy wasn't the best cook, she could chop potatoes like a pro so JJ put her on potato duty while Dave mixed up some of his world famous Italian dressing for the salad. While he was creating the concoction, his cell phone rang and he picked it up and frowned.

"Excuse me for a minute," he said to everyone. "I have to take this." He moved to the living room but since it was quiet in the kitchen and JJ's apartment wasn't very large, they could hear his end of the conversation clearly.

"Hello Angela," he said and there was a long pause. "You couldn't reach her because she's grounded and I took her phone." More silence and then, "No, you can't do this, you can't cancel on her at the last minute like this, she's been looking forward to seeing you all week!" Another pause. "Dammit Angela, our custody agreement is clear, yet you've seen your daughter a total of five times in the last twelve months!" A longer stretch of silence and then Dave sighed, "Fine, I'll explain it to her, but you'd better damn well make it up to her," he said, knowing that she never would. He disconnected the call and then stayed in the room for a minute so he could get a handle on his anger.

He had always been amazed at the level of selfishness his ex-wife displayed and when it was directed at him it was one thing, but when she constantly disappointed their daughter, that was another and he really wanted to go into the kitchen and berate Angela to shreds so his daughter would know what kind of woman her mother really was, but he couldn't do it, he wouldn't trash talk her mother no matter how selfish she was.

Once Dave stopped talking, JJ looked at the teenager and noticed she was near tears. While she didn't have any personal experience dealing with custody issues, since her parents were still happily married, she'd dealt with it enough in her job and she knew Lucy must be hurting inside.

"I'm sorry Lucy," she said as she put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you were looking forward to this weekend with your mom."

Lucy, who had been about to burst into tears, felt her sadness turn into annoyance and anger. Who in the hell did this woman think she was, trying to comfort her? She was probably _glad_ her mom wasn't coming to town because she knew her dad still had feelings for her and she would get shoved to the back burner. And putting her hand on her shoulder like she understood her? Uh uh, she needed to back the fuck off and if she wasn't afraid of being grounded for the rest of her natural life, she would have told the meddlesome woman just that. Instead, she schooled her features into a neutral expression.

"I'm fine," she said. "Mom will make it up to me."

JJ knew from Dave that the woman most certainly would _not _make it up to her, but she decided not to call her on it. Instead she nodded as Dave came back into the room.

"Mom's not coming, is she?" Lucy asked, a part of her hoping she'd misinterpreted her father's end of the conversation. Her hopes were dashed as he shook his head.

"Sorry Luce; I guess something came up with one of her charities and she needs to attend some sort of fundraiser." Angela's boyfriend was very wealthy and he was somewhat of a philanthropist and, since they were practically married, he'd installed Angela as the head of many of the charities he funded.

"That's okay, at least she's missing our weekend for a good cause," Lucy said, smiling proudly. Dave remained silent because he knew if he said anything, all of his frustration would come spilling out. Thankfully, JJ steered the night into a new direction.

"The chicken's ready and I'm about to mash the potatoes; would you and Henry set the table please, Lucy?" The teen nodded and she and the toddler arranged the table.

Three hours later, after they had finished the meal, which Lucy had to admit was wonderful, the four of them were enjoying some cherry cheesecake for dessert. Seeing that her dad was in a good mood after spending the evening with JJ, Lucy decided it was the perfect time to ask her dad for a favor.

She waited until there was a lull in the conversation before she jumped in. "Hey dad, if I asked you for a huge favor, would you hear me out before deciding on it?"

He quirked one eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at her slightly, "Okay," he agreed.

Lucy took a deep breath and, since she was nervous, began speaking rapidly. "I tried out for the school musical last week and I got a part and rehearsals start next weekend. Since it's the first one, we'll meet most of the day on Saturday and I know I'll still be grounded, but it's for a school thing so I was hoping you would let me go." She glanced at her dad and saw he was actually considering it, so she pressed on.

"If I don't go, I'll lose my part and I really, really, REALLY want to be in the play. Plus, since mom cancelled this weekend, I'll be grounded so next weekend will be my last weekend grounded and you'd only be letting me go a few days early. I'll finish my paper for you and I promise it will be A work."

A moment passed as Dave's mind finally caught up with his daughter's words. "You got a part in the school musical?" He asked, somewhat in awe.

She nodded, "We're doing _Les Miserables _and I got the part of Eponine."

"That's a really big part, Lucy!" JJ exclaimed.

"Uh huh," she said absently, as if JJ hadn't spoken. "So can I dad? Can I _please_ go to the rehearsal next Saturday?"

"Are you sure you can still be a part of it with the suspension on your record?" He asked as he considered it.

Lucy nodded, "I talked to Father Jimmy today and he said that as long as I don't get into any more trouble, I can still be in the play."

There was a long moment of silence as Dave made his decision and then he finally nodded. "Okay," he said and before he could continue, Lucy gave a loud squeal and threw her arms around him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said with a big smile.

"Hold on," he said holding his hand up. "I have a few conditions."

"Okay," Lucy said as she sat back down.

"First, you need to keep your grades up. I'm used to seeing mostly B's sprinkled with a few A's and even fewer C's on your report card and I expect to keep seeing that mixture, although if you want to add a few more A's, that's fine with me," he told her and she snorted.

"Dream on dad, but I have to keep my grades up to keep my eligibility for the play anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Good," he said. "Second, I don't want this play to take over your life. As long as there's a realistic rehearsal schedule, I'll be happy. And finally, I have the same expectations as Jimmy; if I get any phone calls from your school, you're done with the play. I don't care if you sneeze too loudly in study hall; if Jimmy gives me even one negative report about you, you're out. Got it?"

She nodded excitedly, "Got it. Thanks dad!"

"You're welcome, honey," he said, happy that he could brighten her day a bit.

"Why don't you and Henry go watch a movie, Lucy?" JJ suggested. "Your dad and I will get the dishes."

As soon as JJ's words were out of her mouth, Henry was up in a flash and pulling on Lucy's arm. "Come on Luce, let's go find Nemo!" Lucy obeyed and soon she and Henry were curled up on the couch watching the cartoon.


	4. Chapter 4

Anyone But You-Chapter 4

* * *

><p>Dave and JJ watched as their two children left the kitchen. Soon, the sounds of Henry's excitement and the strains of the opening song of <em>Finding Nemo<em> could be heard and both of them smiled. After a few moments, JJ started to stand up, but Dave put his hand on her forearm and shook his head slightly.

"You made everything, so it seems only fair that I clean up," he said as he stood and began gathering the dishes. He walked the few steps to the sink and deposited them before rolling up his sleeves.

"You seemed surprised about Lucy's announcement," JJ remarked as Dave began rinsing the dishes. She got up, grabbed a dishtowel and moved next to him so she could dry. "Didn't you know that she tried out for the musical?"

"I didn't even know she could sing," Dave said softly and then saw JJ's raised eyebrows. "I mean, I've heard her sing in the shower and she's pretty good, but everyone sounds good in the shower. I didn't know her musical talent was stage worthy." He sighed and let the pots and pans soak in the soapy water while he worked on the plates and silverware. "I sometimes feel like some of the parents we interview; you know, the ones who don't have any idea what their kids are up to, or who their friends are…the ones who are shocked when their kid turns out to be a serial killer. I feel like I don't know who my daughter is sometimes," he admitted.

"First, she's not going to turn into a serial killer and second, she's fifteen Dave, she's going to keep secrets from you," JJ assured him.

"This wasn't a secret, JJ, this should have been common knowledge in our family! I'm her father; I should've fucking known she could sing well enough to get a major part in a musical! Hell, I should've known she was trying out for it!"

"What's this really about?" She asked. "I know you and something like this normally wouldn't upset you so much."

He sighed, "Lucy said something in passing today when she was at the BAU and…well, she said she'd hate to think I abandoned her in order to sit behind a desk to do paperwork. She feels abandoned JJ; what the fuck kind of father am I to do that to her? Do the bad guys really matter THAT much? Are they so important that I should jeopardize my relationship with my only child?"

"Again, she's fifteen and her emotions are in a jumble; I'm sure she would feel abandoned by you even if you worked from home. And you don't abandon her Dave, you spend as much time with her as you can when you're home."

Dave squirmed a little, "That's not exactly true," he said.

"What do you mean?" JJ asked as she put the plates away.

Dave focused intently on the forks he was scrubbing. "I don't know how to relate to her anymore. It was easy when she was a kid, she would tell me or Angela about her day or what she needed and we took care of it, but now…now she's much more moody, she barely talks to me and I hardly know anything about her life. It feels like the only time we spend together is when she's in trouble."

"One more time Dave," JJ said patiently, "She's fifteen. She's facing tough times at school, both with classes and peer pressure, and her hormones are out of whack. Besides, the trouble she gets into isn't trouble, it's hardly anything…let me tell you, _I_ know what trouble is."

He grinned as he handed her the last dish, "Were you a bit of a hell raiser, Agent Jareau?"

She gave him a devilish smile, "Let's just say that trouble knew where I lived and leave it at that, okay?"

"Nothing doing JJ; I want details!"

She laughed as she shook her head. "Sorry Dave, there are some things that will go with me to the grave."

"I'm a powerful man JJ, I'm sure I can find out about your sordid past," he warned her as he took a step closer to her.

"Give it your best shot, but you're going to come up empty; people in small towns know how to keep their mouths shut to outsiders."

"That sounds like a challenge," he said as he looked down into her face.

"More like a dare," she started but her words were cut off by his mouth pressing against hers. Without consciously thinking about it, she deepened the kiss and they stayed like that for a few minutes until they had to come up for air.

"That was-" JJ started.

"Amazing!" Dave finished as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Dave, we have two kids in the next room."

"So? Henry's old enough to make sense of things and my daughter has seen me kiss other women before; hell, she's been with me through two wives."

"Speaking of which," JJ said, pulling away from him. "What happened with Lucy's mom? Why doesn't she live with her?" She needed time to clear her head from the kiss and distracting him by asking more questions about his daughter seemed like the perfect way to do it.

"She lived with her for the first three years after our divorce, but shortly after she turned twelve she suddenly decided she wanted to live with me," he told her.

"That's odd, don't you think? Especially at that age?"

Dave shrugged, "My ex-wife tends to latch on to whatever man catches her fancy and Lucy said she got tired of it. Besides, as you could tell from my conversation with her tonight, Angela doesn't exactly make Lucy a priority." He paused for a moment and then narrowed his eyes at her. "And how exactly did we switch from kissing to talking about my ex-wife? "

"Dave, until we define this…thing between us, we can't make out like two oversexed teenagers, I can't let Henry see that."

"So once we define this 'thing,' it'll be _okay_ for him to see us like that?" Dave asked with a grin.

JJ punched him lightly on the arm, "You know what I mean."

Dave nodded, "Have dinner with me tomorrow night and I'll define anything you want."

She thought about it for a moment and then nodded her head, "Okay, I'll go out with you."

"Great," he said with a soft smile. "I promise that whatever happens between us, our kids won't suffer for it."

xxxxxxxxxx

The ride home from JJ's was silent at first, but then Dave broke it by bringing up a potentially dangerous topic. "So are you okay with your mom cancelling your plans for this weekend?"

Lucy thought for a minute and then shook her head, "Not really…I mean I understand that she's busy with Doug's charities, but I wish I could see her more."

"Me too, Luce," he said.

"She called while you and JJ were doing the dishes," Lucy told him. "You left your cell in the living room so I answered and we made plans for my birthday. It's six months away, so as long as she has it on her calendar, she should be able to keep that day free for me, right?"

Lucy sounded so hopeful that Dave couldn't ruin it by saying no, so he just nodded in agreement but he knew that Angela wouldn't hesitate to cancel her daughter's birthday plans if something else came along. While their custody agreement called for regular weekend visits plus two weeks in the summer, Angela rarely stuck to it but Lucy had a fierce devotion and love for her and she wouldn't tolerate anyone speaking badly about her, even him.

Instead of answering her directly, beyond the nod, he changed the subject again. "I'm going out with JJ tomorrow night, so you'll be on your own for dinner. I don't have to remind you that you're grounded, do I?"

"No," she said sullenly; she couldn't believe her dad was going out with that floozy! "I just don't see you and JJ together," she told him.

"Why not?" Dave asked, a bit grumpily; he thought they were perfect for each other.

"Well first, aren't you like thirty years older than her?"

"I'm 18 years older than her," he huffed, "And so what? We both enjoy the same things and we have fun with each other. What's wrong with that?"

"I don't know, I guess I thought you would've learned your lesson after Holly." Holly was Dave's third ex-wife and Lucy had been living with him during his extremely short marriage to her. Holly had been all of 23 years old when Dave married her and it had been a match made in hell as their age differences caught up with them. They divorced after less than two years of marriage.

"JJ's different," he told her. "She's more mature, she has a kid and she works the same hours as I do. I think it can work between the two of us."

"Okay dad," Lucy replied but inside she was going nuts; he was right, he and JJ _were _a good match and that pissed her off since she knew someday her parents would get back together and she didn't want her dad's co-worker to ruin it. As they pulled into their driveway, Lucy fervently prayed that their relationship wouldn't work out.


	5. Chapter 5

Anyone But You-Chapter 5

* * *

><p>Three weeks later, Lucy quickly walked through Regan National Airport, keeping an eye out for her mother. The woman was flying through DC on her way to Toronto and she had a three hour layover, so she was meeting Lucy for a late lunch. Lucy was running late because the Metro schedule was abbreviated on the weekends and as a result, she'd waited nearly twenty minutes for her train at the Chinatown Metro stop. As her eyes darted around, she spotted her mother sitting at an elegant bistro.<p>

"Hi mom!" She greeted enthusiastically as she stepped up to the table. To her surprise, her mother put her hand up in the universal 'just a minute' gesture and continued talking on her cell phone. Lucy sat down with a small sigh and waited for her mother to finish her call; since they hadn't seen each other in over four months, she'd hoped for a nicer greeting, but she understood her mother was busy. Finally, after another ten minutes or so, Angela disconnected her call and focused on her daughter.

"Lucy, it seems like we haven't seen each other in _ages,_" she said as she leaned across the small table and gave her daughter a peck on the cheek. The teen had to bite her tongue from telling her mother it was largely her fault that they hadn't seen each other; her mother could be dramatic and she didn't want a scene in the middle of the airport.

"I know," she agreed. "I really miss you mom! I wish we could see each other more often."

"Well _you_ were the one who decided to live with your father," Angela sniffed and then really looked at her daughter. "So you decided to get bangs?"

Lucy smoothed her hand over her hair self consciously. "Uh huh. Do you like them?"

Angela scrutinized her face for a moment before she shook her head, "Not particularly; they don't frame your face very well, but as long as you like them, that's what counts." Lucy was used to the backhanded insults from her mother, but that didn't mean they stung any less and she tried to quell her hurt feelings.

At that moment, the waiter approached their table. "Good afternoon ladies, are you ready to order?"

Lucy picked up the menu, "Could we have a few minutes please?" She asked politely. "I haven't had a chance to look at the menu yet."

The waiter nodded and moved to step away from the table, but Angela stopped him. "We'll both have the garden salads with fat-free ranch dressing on the side."

Lucy sighed; she really wanted a chicken sandwich but she knew better than to argue with her mother. "Can you please add chicken to mine?" She asked the waiter.

"No chicken," her mother said as she scrutinized her figure. "That's the _last_ thing you need." Lucy blushed at her mother's remark; although she was in the healthy weight range for someone her age and height, her mother had made it her life's mission to watch both of their figures.

"I'll also have another gin and tonic," Angela continued as she pointed to the two empty glasses on the table, "And a glass of red wine for my daughter."

"No wine for me, just water please," Lucy told the waiter and he left with a nod

"Since when do you turn down wine?"

"I got a part in the school musical," the teen explained, "And dad said that if I get into _any_ trouble, he'll make me quit it. I figure he'll flip out if I come home with alcohol on my breath."

"What musical are you doing?" Angela asked.

"_Les Miserables_, I got the part of Eponine," Lucy said proudly.

"Not Cosette?" Her mother asked. "That's a bigger part."

Lucy felt her pride deflate; why couldn't her mother just be happy for her? "Actually," she said with a tight throat, "While the part of Eponine isn't considered the lead, I actually have more lines and stage time than the girl who's playing Cosette."

"Well, as long as you're happy with it," Angela said as her phone rang. She answered the call and talked until their meager meals arrived.

They made small talk while they ate and towards the end, Angela finally asked about her ex-husband. "So, how's your father?"

Lucy made a face, "He's seeing a woman he works with and I can't stand her! He says they're 'just friends' but I can tell it's deeper than that."

"Who is he seeing?"

"The media chick, Jennifer Jareau."

"JJ?" Angela asked in surprise and then thought about it for a minute, "I can totally see that, I think she'll be great for your dad."

"But moooooom," Lucy whined. "Dad spends all of his time with her, it's like I barely exist! Plus, she's so annoying! She's always trying to be friends with me, as if I'd _ever_ be friends with someone like her!"

"Oh, I doubt that's true," Angela said with a wave of her fork. "Your father _always _paid much more attention to you than he did anyone else, including me. And JJ _is _a good match for Dave; she's in the same job as he is so she knows the time commitment, they can both discuss cases afterwards _and_ she's a cute little bombshell. Yes, I can see this relationship going the distance. You should give her more of a chance."

"Great," Lucy said with a pout as she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest; this was not going the way she had envisioned it. First, if she was eventually going to get her parents back together, she needed her mom to be jealous of JJ, not happy about their relationship. Second, if she didn't like someone then her mother shouldn't either; it was an unwritten rule of loyalty! Her mother should be joining in and ripping on JJ along with her, not defending her. Apparently her mother didn't read the same rulebook as her. "You know, when you complained about Steven and Barry _and _James," she said referring to her mother's past boyfriends, "I supported you even though I liked those guys. Could you actually be a mother towards me for once in my life and take _my_ side in something?"

Angela had her fork to her mouth but she set it down once her daughter was done talking. "I don't particularly like your attitude _or _your tone, young lady," she said as she reached for her fourth gin and tonic and gulped it down. "I have always acted like a mother to you, it's _you_ who has always been ungrateful! Running off to live with your father when things didn't go your way!" She hissed as she reached into her purse and threw some bills onto the table. "The problem with you, Lucy, is that you're selfish and I, for one, am tired of it." She stood to leave and Lucy joined her.

"I'm sorry mom, I didn't mean to upset you!" She said, just short of begging, hoping that her mother would sit down so they could finish the rest of their meal before she left her again for months on end.

"Well you did and I don't feel much like finishing my lunch with you. You're just lucky we're in public, or this would have been much worse for you." With that Angela grabbed her purse and gave her daughter an air kiss on her cheek. "I will see you again when you can be civil and polite towards me." And with that, Angela left the restaurant and stalked down the corridor towards her gate.

Lucy, who was stunned by her mother's reaction to her mild complaining, sank back down into her seat and blinked back her tears. She took a large gulp of her water and willed herself not to cry, she absolutely _refused _to cry in public. Instead, she left the money her mother threw down on the table, got up and left the restaurant.

xxxxxxxxxx

An hour later, she stepped off of the Metro train and made her way up to the top of the station. Once she was above ground level, she saw her dad's SUV waiting and got in. Once she had her seatbelt buckled, she looked over at him and saw a stormy look on his face.

"How was your lunch?" He asked tightly as he drove towards the cabin. They were spending the weekend there with Henry and JJ and while he usually didn't let Lucy go back into town while they were there, he'd made an exception since her mother was only in town for a few hours.

"It was fine," Lucy said as she looked out the passenger side window.

"Really? That's not how your mother described it," Dave said and Lucy whipped her head around in surprise. "She called me and told me you were rude and snotty towards her."

The teen couldn't believe her ears; her mother criticized her every move, she was inattentive and talked on her phone the entire lunch and SHE was the one who was rude and snotty? Sure, she'd lost her cool once with her mother, but it hadn't been that bad! "Whatever!" She snapped, knowing there was no way to defend herself.

Dave shook his head, "I don't know what in the hell is going on with you Luce, but you'd better change your attitude quickly! First you barely talk to me, then you don't like JJ and now you're behaving badly with your mother! You need to realize that we're all on your side here."

"Yeah, right," Lucy mumbled, forgetting her dad had super sensitive hearing.

"What? How am I not on your side?" He asked loudly.

"Well God dad! How about making me come to the cabin in the first place? I _told _you that I have rehearsals this weekend but you made me miss them! You didn't even ask me, you just laid down the law like you always do! And now you're making me spend time with _them._"

"I wanted all of us to spend the weekend together so you can get used to having JJ and Henry in our lives. Whether you like it or not, JJ and I have feelings for each other and you'll just have to get used to that. Just because I have feelings for JJ doesn't mean I love you any less-"

"Spare me dad," Lucy interrupted, glaring at him. "I'm not seven years old anymore."

"Okay, how about this then?" He asked through clenched teeth. "You're _this _close," he held up his thumb and forefinger less than a centimeter apart, "to finding out what real restrictions are like. If your attitude doesn't change quickly, you'll prefer jail over living with me! Capisce?"

"I get it," the teen snapped, her feelings hurt. So much for her dad actually listening to her.

"This close, Luce," he repeated ominously. After that, they rode the rest of the way to the cabin in silence.

* * *

><p><em>AN : Note from Ilovetvalot and Tonnie2001969 regarding the 2011 Profiler Choice Awards:_

_For whatever reason, ff . net disabled the Profiler's Choice Awards PM system. That means all attempts to submit ballots failed from September 11 - 16. Anyone who tried to submit a ballot during this period listed above should RESEND their submissions. I am very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused._


	6. Chapter 6

Anyone But You-Chapter 6

* * *

><p>The next three weeks went by fairly smoothly for Lucy. She'd taken her dad's words to heart and had genuinely tried getting along better with JJ because she knew that if anyone could make prison seem like a better choice, it was her dad. The previous year she'd ditched school for a day to hang out with some friends in Baltimore and when she got home…well, to say her dad was irate would be putting it mildly. After he yelled at her for an hour straight he'd restricted her computer, television, cell phone and iPod access for a month and what was worse was he'd arranged for Father Jimmy to meet her at the front door of the school each morning and he walked her to her first class and if she was even five minutes late, her dad got a call. By the end of her grounding, she thought she would go insane so she definitely didn't want to deal with <em>that<em> again.

It was also really hard to hate JJ. She'd pretty much given up on the dream of her parents ever being in the same room together, much less reconciling and she'd come to realize it was because they were two of the most stubborn and bull-headed people on the planet. How their marriage had ever lasted nine years would remain a mystery to the fifteen year old, but now that she'd given up on the illusion of having her parents under the same roof, she couldn't hold it against the perky blonde woman. Plus, she was really nice and she actually paid attention to her, unlike her father. Sure, Lucy knew he'd been working on his next book and they'd been busy at work, but it seemed like the only time he focused on her was when she was in trouble and that was where she still had some resentment towards JJ and her son.

While she didn't hate JJ like she had in the past, her and her adorable son stole a lot of the precious time her dad had to give and they got it freely, while she had to practically stand on her head for him to pay attention to her. When she'd begged him to live with him three years ago, he'd seemed willing to take her in, but now she wondered if he was regretting it. She felt like a leftover, an extra in their family and she found herself counting down the days until she left for college.

She was doing the mental 'college countdown' in her head as she left school one Friday but she was pulled from it when she saw JJ and Henry waiting for her in the schoolyard.

"Lucy!" The little boy shouted when he saw her. He broke free from his mother's grip and launched himself towards the teen.

Lucy, who struggled to keep her balance as Henry barreled into her, asked JJ, "What are you doing here?" She said it snippily, more out of habit than out of animosity.

"Your dad had to go out of town, so I thought I would pick you up today," the media liaison said brightly. She could feel the wall slowly crumbling between the two of them and she was bound and determined to get to the root of the teen's problem so they could knock it down completely.

"Oh, okay," Lucy said with a disappointed sigh. The last thing she wanted to do was stay in the dorms that weekend, but with her dad out of town it was unavoidable. "Why aren't you with the team?" She asked as the three of them got into the car.

"The team didn't go, just your dad and Hotch went," she told her as she buckled Henry into his car seat. "Someone they put away years ago is about to die and he wants to give a final statement."

"Sounds fun," Lucy said sarcastically; her dad's job was pretty messed up.

JJ grinned as she got behind the wheel and started the car, "Yeah, it sounds like a party every second, doesn't it?"

Lucy snorted in laughter, "You can just drop me off at home. I have a go-bag ready and I can take the Metro back to the dorms."

JJ nodded, "You could do that, or the three of us could go to the cabin." The teen shot her a questioning look and she elaborated. "Your dad gave me the keys to the cabin before he left and I thought it would be nice if the three of us got out of the city."

"But I have play rehearsal from 10:00am-1:00pm tomorrow," Lucy told her and she was surprised to feel a pang of disappointment. Part of her wanted to spend the weekend with them, and she was shocked by that, but she couldn't miss another rehearsal. To her surprise, JJ just smiled and nodded.

"I know, I checked the schedule you emailed your dad. I set up a play date for Henry during that time and I thought I would run some errands in the city while you're at rehearsal."

"But once we're at the cabin we can't go back to the city until we're ready to go home," Lucy told her, shocked that she'd actually looked at the schedule and had taken her rehearsal into consideration; it seemed like her dad never bothered, he just made plans and expected her to fall into line with them.

"I know that too, but I'm not your dad," JJ told her. "Look, I may not have been in a play, but I was on the soccer team in high school and I know that whenever I missed a practice I had hell to pay with the coach. I'm guessing your play is a lot like that."

The teen nodded, "It is; God, when I missed rehearsal a few weeks ago, I thought Mr. Collins was going to give my part to the understudy. It took a lot of groveling for me to get back into his good graces again."

"So what do you say? A relaxing weekend at the cabin, or a dreary one in the dorms?"

Lucy barely had to think, "The cabin!" She said happily as she felt more of the resentment towards the woman melt away. She was touched by JJ's thoughtfulness; she could've easily just taken Henry to the cabin, but she had included her as well and not just as an afterthought. No, JJ had taken her schedule into consideration and worked around it and it had been a long time since anyone had done anything like that for her.

JJ gave a small sigh of relief when she heard the happiness in the teenager's voice; she'd had some qualms about spending a weekend alone with the girl but it seemed as though Lucy was excited about spending time with her and Henry at the cabin. As they drove out of the city, JJ decided that no matter what happened, she was going to talk to Lucy at sometime during the weekend and they would clear the air between them once and for all.


	7. Chapter 7

Anyone But You-Chapter 7

* * *

><p>As Lucy stood at the kitchen counter, waiting for the popcorn to pop, she thought about the past twenty-four hours. She'd spent nearly an entire day with JJ, whom she'd once seen as her mortal enemy, and her son Henry and she'd had a ton of fun with them.<p>

They had arrived early enough the previous evening to go for a short hike in the woods surrounding the cabin. Once they returned, JJ started a fire in the fire pit in the back yard and they'd roasted hot dogs over the fire and had paired them with chips. They made s'mores for dessert and Henry had loved it. Lucy liked it as well because it reminded her of earlier times spent with her parents at the cabin, before her mother had started drinking and before her dad had become so aloof with her. As she watched JJ help Henry with his s'more, she had to blink back tears.

After the outdoor dinner, they went back to the cabin and watched the original version of _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. _It was a movie that was appropriate for all ages and it had entranced the toddler, even if he didn't always understand what was going on. After that, they all went to bed since they had an early morning ahead of them.

That morning, just as promised, JJ dropped Henry off at his friend's house and Lucy off at her rehearsal before running her errands. Lucy was surprised to see JJ in the auditorium well before the end of the rehearsal; the few times her dad had picked her up, he'd waited in the SUV for her but JJ was watching them and she seemed interested in the play. Afterward, she told Lucy she was impressed with her singing, but she didn't go on and on about it, so Lucy knew the compliment was sincere. After they picked Henry up, they went back to the cabin and relaxed for the afternoon before eating an early supper and watching even more kid friendly movies.

"I thought he would never go to sleep!" JJ exclaimed as she came into the kitchen after putting Henry to bed. "What do you want to watch?" She asked the teen.

Lucy wrinkled her face in thought, "Dad doesn't have many chick flicks here, he likes old school shoot 'em up movies like _The Godfather_."

"Well then it's a good thing I thought ahead," JJ said as she pulled a small stack of movies out from behind her back.

"Oh thank God," Lucy breathed, "Normal movies!"

"Mmm hmm," JJ said. "How about we start with _Sweet Home Alabama_? I don't think we can ever go wrong with Reese Witherspoon."

"Sounds good," the teen said as she dumped the freshly popped popcorn into a large bowl. Before she left the kitchen to join JJ in the great room, she added generous amounts of melted butter and salt.

JJ, who was setting up the DVD via the remote control, had already taken over half of the couch but there was plenty of room for Lucy to sit next to her, so she did and she put the giant bowl of popcorn between them.

It was quiet for a minute as they stuffed their faces with junk food while the standard FBI warning played across the screen. JJ, who saw no time like the present to clear the air with the teen, interrupted the silence.

"So why do you hate me?" She asked out of the blue.

Lucy, who had a mouthful of popcorn, quickly chewed it and swallowed. "I don't hate you," she said and got a raised eyebrow in return. "Okay, I don't hate you _anymore_," she amended.

That brought a small smile to JJ's face. "Why did you hate me before?"

Lucy sighed, "Look, if I tell you, are you going to run to my dad to tattle on me? Because I already have enough adults up in my business and I don't need any more."

"Lucy, whatever we talk about here stays between us; I'm not going to talk about you behind your back to your father," she assured her.

"Fine," Lucy said, not quite believing her. "I hated you because dad always wants to spend the little bit of spare time he has with you."

"You were jealous?"

"I wasn't jealous," Lucy said and then she saw the look of disbelief JJ was giving her. "Well, maybe I was, but you don't understand, it's almost impossible for me to get any attention from my dad. The only time he focuses on me is when I'm in trouble."

"Is that why you pull so many pranks at school?" JJ asked quietly.

"No! Maybe…I don't know…you just don't get it!" The teen was getting frustrated and JJ knew she had help her verbalize her thoughts.

"Explain it to me like I'm a six year old," she said gently as she put her hand on Lucy's arm.

The teen nodded and took a deep breath. "It always seems like it's a big chore for dad to spend time with me and when he does, we usually just run errands or do stuff with the rest of the family at large. I can't remember the last time we went to a ballgame, or out to dinner or something where it was just the two of us. And then you entered his life and…"

"And he bent over backwards to make time for me," JJ finished. "And it pissed you off that I was stealing your time with your dad."

"No, not exactly, it's just…he _wanted _to spend time with you, you and Henry both," Lucy said, her eyes filling with tears. "I always thought dad didn't do things with me because he didn't like kids, but I see him running around with Henry and he makes sure Henry is always happy and has something to do and it made me realize it's not that my dad doesn't like kids, he just doesn't like _me._"

JJ shook her head, "I know for a fact that your dad loves you very much, Lucy."

"I know that," she said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I know he loves me, but he doesn't like me."

"Just because he doesn't spend much time with you doesn't mean-" Lucy interrupted the media liaison.

"It's not just that, he changed after he and mom got divorced. Dad and I used to get along great before they split up and then I went to live with mom and while I still saw dad a few times each month, it was different, he became more aloof with me. Then, after I got sick of mom's crap, I had to practically beg him to live with him and even then he only agreed after I threatened to run away."

"I'm sure he always wanted you to live with him, he's just always on the road with his job."

Lucy shook her head, "But we never really re-connected after I moved in with him and I still feel like a guest. Look around you, do you see any of my things in here? How about at our house, do you see any of my knickknacks around? How about any calendars with my activities or any of my papers on the fridge? Hell, there aren't even any pictures of me in the house, not even the stupid school pictures throughout the ages."

"But that's just your dad, Lucy," JJ said as she thought about what the girl had said. "He's like that with everyone. Lord knows he's not a cuddly teddy bear; he can be gruff and standoffish."

"But he's not like that with you," Lucy pointed out, "Or with Henry or with your co-workers; it's just with me…it's like there's this wall between us."

"Have you tried talking to him?" JJ asked, knowing that Lucy had a point.

"I used to, but I've kinda given up and since he doesn't listen to me anyway, it's okay," she said. "Like a couple of weeks ago, mom was being a royal bitch during our lunch and I finally snapped at her once and she called my dad and told him I was being snotty and giving her an attitude. Did my dad even bother getting my side of the story? No! He just ripped on me and threatened me. It's just easier sometimes to stay quiet."

"Why do you live with your dad instead of your mother?" JJ asked, curiously. She would have thought the teen would've moved back in with her mother if things were so bad with her father.

Lucy just shook her head, "Mom's even worse than dad when it comes to free time and she can be really bitchy when she wants to be plus she has a new boyfriend almost every month. There's no way I could deal with living with her again; we get along much better when we just visit with one another." Lucy hoped her answer would satisfy the older woman since there was no _way _she was going to tell her the real reason why she refused to live with her mother.

Even though she wasn't a profiler, JJ had been on the team long enough to know Lucy was holding something back in her explanation as to why she didn't want to live with her mother, but she didn't push her on it. Instead, she took a deep breath and said, "Well I'm glad you don't hate me anymore, but I wish you were happier and I wish you and your dad got along better."

"I know, and I'm really not trying to make you feel sorry for me; I've been dealing with this stuff for three years now and I'll be going to college in two and a half years, so I'll get through it."

JJ sighed, "I don't want you to have to 'get through' your teen years, Luce."

"And maybe that came out wrong, but I'll be okay; I have my friends and you're turning out to be pretty cool and I love Henry. Plus, you make my dad really happy so maybe some of his happiness will spread to me." Lucy could tell JJ wanted to keep talking, but she'd revealed enough to the woman already. "Can we watch the movie now?" She asked as she wiped the stray tears off of her face.

JJ wanted to say more about what they'd been discussing but she knew if she pushed the girl too hard it might undo some of the progress they'd made that weekend, so she just nodded and pushed play. She wished she could talk to Dave about all of this, but she'd promised Lucy that she wouldn't so now she was frustrated. She knew things had to change between the two of them; Dave had to pull his head out of his ass when it came to his daughter and Lucy had to understand that she couldn't have her dad's undivided attention 100% of the time. For the first time in a long time she didn't know how to fix a situation and that was a new feeling for her.


	8. Chapter 8

Anyone But You-Chapter 8

**~Warning: This chapter deals with issues of child abuse.**

* * *

><p>Over the next few weeks, JJ kept her word to Lucy and didn't say anything to Dave about what she'd told her. It was hard, especially when she witnessed Dave unconsciously acting like an inconsiderate ass towards her but instead of telling him outright that his daughter felt ignored and unliked, she instead used hints with him. Unfortunately, the man, for being a brilliant profiler, couldn't pick up a hint to save his life.<p>

For instance, one night she was at the house and she asked him why there were no pictures of Lucy on the wall and he told her that if an unsub bent on revenge ever broke into the place, he didn't want them knowing what his daughter looked like. His answer made sense but when JJ suggested he tell Lucy why there were no pictures, he just shrugged and said she didn't care. When JJ pushed it and said all teen girls would care about something like that, he told her Lucy didn't and then changed the subject. It was stupid things like that which just went over his head and it was enough to make her scream in frustration. She found herself watching Dave's interactions with Lucy more and she understood why the teen felt neglected.

While JJ's hints went over like lead balloons, Lucy was gaining benefits from having the woman in their lives. First, she had begun to genuinely like JJ and since she'd become a larger part of her dad's life, he'd been in a pretty good mood which worked for her. Second, she loved Henry and saw him as a little brother. She played with him, helped him draw pictures and JJ and her dad even let her babysit him a few times while they went out. They'd both had fun and Dave and JJ had come home to two sleeping children. Finally, JJ frequently took her side in the not-so-rare arguments she had with her dad. The woman had been instrumental in helping her get a later curfew, a better cell phone and an increase in both the amount and types of cosmetics she was allowed to wear. All in all, Lucy liked having JJ around and not just because of the help she gave her when dealing with her dad, but also because she'd become kind of a big sister and a confidante to her. While she was still somewhat wary that JJ would go running to her dad and tell him what she said about him, she was quickly beginning to trust the woman and Lucy did not trust easily. Unfortunately, her trust in JJ was about to be shattered…shattered with good reason but shattered nonetheless.

Nearly a month after JJ got Lucy to open up to her at the cabin, she was cuddled with Dave in front of the TV. They had just finished dinner and were trying to decide on a movie to watch, which was always an epic battle since one liked old school movies and the other liked more modern, romantic movies. Either way, the movie wasn't the important part; since both kids were out of town for the weekend, both JJ and Dave knew they wouldn't be seeing much of the actual film.

They were only twenty minutes into the movie, and ten minutes into making out, when both adults heard the front door open. They heard someone enter the house, shut the door and reset the alarm and then, thirty seconds later, Lucy stepped into the living room.

"Hi Lucy, what are you doing home?" JJ asked as she disentangled herself from Dave's arms. "I thought you were spending the weekend with your mom?" Angela was in town for a gala and, with much prodding from Dave, had decided to spend the weekend with her daughter. Because of a teacher's convention, Lucy had Thursday and Friday off and Dave had given Angela the keys to the cabin for the weekend so she wouldn't have to pay for a hotel. He was surprised to see Lucy back early.

"I was, but she wanted to go home a little early so she dropped me off at the Metro stop on her way to the airport," the teen said, avoiding eye contact. Dave knew in an instant she was lying.

"That was a nice story, now do you want to try telling me the truth?"

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked innocently, "That was the truth." Dave just folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Fine," the teen sighed, "We got into a fight and I left early. Happy?"

"Dammit Lucy! Am I going to get another call from your mother complaining about your attitude and how I let you run wild? Because I gotta tell you, it gets old."

"Don't worry dad, mom was fine with me leaving early; you won't have to waste any of your precious time talking to her," Lucy shot back in a snide tone.

Hoping to head off a blowout between the two stubborn Rossi's, JJ jumped into the fray. "Have you eaten?" Lucy shook her head. "Well, why don't you go upstairs and change into your pj's while I warm up some leftovers?"

"Okay, that sounds good," Lucy said and after shooting her dad a glare, she headed up the stairs.

"Damn, there goes our Saturday night together," Dave said and then he frowned. "Something is definitely up with her," he said as he nodded towards the stairs.

"Yeah, she seemed a little off," JJ agreed as she slowly stood up. "I need some ibuprofen for my knee and I'll try talking to her while I get some from her." Three days earlier, JJ had wrenched her knee chasing down an unsub and it was still a bit sore. As she stretched her leg, she could feel Dave's appreciative stare and she grinned. "Maybe later I'll let you massage my leg."

"Oh Jen, if you think I'll stop with just your leg, you don't know me too well," he said with a lecherous grin.

JJ chuckled as she made her way to the stairs. Once on the second floor, she was still absorbed in imagining her massage from Dave, which is why she forgot to knock on Lucy's door before entering.

"Hey Luce," she said as she burst into the girl's room. "Do you have any ibuprof-" the rest of her sentence was cut off as she got a good look at the teen's back, which was facing her. "What happened?" She asked, alarmed. Lucy's back was covered in large bruises and most of them were in varying stages of healing. They went from her shoulders down to her thighs and, from what she could see, there were also black and blue marks on the front of her ribcage.

"Jesus! How about knocking next time?" Lucy snapped as she reached for her shirt so she could cover herself up. While she wasn't embarrassed that JJ had seen her in just her bra and panties, she knew the bruises and other marks would lead to questions…questions she didn't want to deal with.

"I'm sorry Lucy," JJ said, her mind still reeling from what she had seen. "I was thinking about something else. Seriously though, were you in an accident? We need to get you to a doctor!"

"No!" The teen exclaimed loudly as she tugged her pajama pants up her legs. Because she didn't want her dad getting involved, she lowered the volume of her voice. "I _don't _need to see a doctor, this isn't a big deal."

"It isn't a big deal?" JJ repeated incredulously. "You have bruises all over your back and, from what I could see, they're on your front too, right?"

Lucy knew JJ would make a bigger deal out of it if she wasn't honest, so she nodded. "Yeah, but it doesn't hurt, honestly!"

"What happened?" JJ asked in a calmer voice.

The teen closed her eyes and answered, "My mom, she…loses her temper sometimes and, well…"

"Your _mother_ did this?"

Lucy nodded, "But really, it's not a huge deal, I swear it doesn't hurt!"

"Is that why you came home early? Because she was hitting you?"

Lucy nodded, "She's usually not this bad, but-"

"Wait," JJ interrupted, "She's _usually_ not this bad? Has she done this to you before?"

"Um, yeah, just about every time I see her…except when we just meet at the airport or the mall."

"Is that why you wanted to live with your dad? Was she abusing you while you were living with her?" JJ asked, trying to wrap her mind around the idea of any parent hitting their child hard enough to leave the bruises she'd seen on Lucy's body.

"It's not abuse!" Lucy protested, "Like I said, she just loses her temper and it only happens when she drinks…"

JJ closed her eyes and counted to ten in order to to get past her murderous feelings towards the teen's mother. "Luce, we've got to get you to an ER, some of those looked pretty bad."

"They're not bad!" She protested and a trace of anger entered her voice. "Look, mom was in a bad mood all weekend because she broke up with her boyfriend and so she was drinking a lot. She didn't mean to do this, it just kinda happened. Besides, I know to just shut up when she gets like that and I didn't, so it's my fault too."

"This is NOT your fault, Lucy!" JJ said emphatically. "There is nothing you could do that would ever make this okay!"

"Okay, fine, but PLEASE don't tell my dad!" The teen begged. "He'll have all kinds of questions and he'll get pissed at my mom and I hardly ever see her to begin with and he'll make it worse!"

"I can't keep something like this from him!"

"But you promised!" Lucy said as desperation clouded her voice. "You said that whatever we talk about stays between us!"

"This is different," JJ told her.

"No, it's not! Please JJ, I can't deal with the questions and he'll probably side with mom anyway, so why bother? _Please_ don't tell him." She was back to begging again and she prayed for it to work.

JJ pinched the bridge of her nose and thought for a minute. She moved towards the door and said. "Get changed and then come downstairs for your supper."

"Okay," the teen said, thinking she was in the clear. "Thanks JJ."

JJ slipped out of the room without saying anything and shut the door behind her. She stood on the other side of it for a long moment as a battle waged inside of her. Of course she had to tell Dave about Lucy's bruises; as a parent she would want to know if something like that was happening to her child, but she hated betraying Lucy's confidence. Sighing one last time, JJ started down the steps, her mind in turmoil.


	9. Chapter 9

Anyone But You-Chapter 9

**~Warning: This chapter deals with issues of child abuse.**

**~I want to thank everyone for all of the reviews for the past couple of chapters, they really keep me motivated! That said, the next chapter is written, all I have to do is edit it so I hope to post it later tonight or early tomorrow as a thank you for all of the reviews/alerts.**

* * *

><p>As JJ descended the stairs, the turmoil in her brain changed to clarity; of course she had to tell Rossi about Lucy; as her father he had both the right and the need to know and there was no WAY she was going to let the teen be alone with her mother again.<p>

As she stepped into the kitchen, she saw that Dave was fixing a plate for Lucy. He put it in the microwave and gave her a sympathetic smile. "How's the knee? Did you get some ibuprofen?"

She shook her head, "Dave, Lucy's hurt."

The smile faded from his features, "What? Where?" He asked as he took a step towards the staircase. JJ caught his arm and shook her head again.

"Wait Dave," she said and then took a deep breath, "She has bruises all over her back and probably her torso too. She said Angela did it…she's the one who hurt her."

The profiler was quiet for a moment as he processed what she said. "Angela? No…Angela's dramatic and slightly crazy, but she wouldn't hurt her."

"Why would Lucy lie about something like that Dave? She _just _got home from a weekend with her mom and now she's covered in bruises. You do the math."

"No, I know Angela and she wouldn't…I never would've let Lucy stay with her if…" He trailed off, as looks of confusion, horror, shock and guilt played across his face. "Oh God," he whispered as her words finally sunk in to his brain and the situation dawned on him.

At that moment, Lucy joined them in the kitchen, as if nothing was wrong with her. She walked in as the microwave dinged and she pulled her dinner out of it. "Mmmm, yummy; chicken and potatoes," she said, unaware of the emotions in the room. "God JJ, this smells wonderful," she said as she poured herself a glass of water from the fridge. She was turned away from the two adults, so she didn't see the looks they exchanged, nor did she see her father's look of dismay change to one of determination.

"Let me see your back," he said.

Lucy turned around with an expression of confusion on her face, but inside she began to panic. Why would he want to see her back? Did he know? Was he bluffing? "What? No dad, I'm not going to show you my back," she said with a nervous huff.

"Lucille Marie Rossi, let me see your back now," he ordered.

Lucy heard the sternness in his voice and really looked at him. Fucking-A, he knew! How in the hell did he know her secret? She looked from her dad to JJ and saw the blonde's eyes shift away from her. "You told him?" She yelled and JJ could hear the sense of betrayal in her voice.

"Lucy, I had to, he's-" her defense was cut off by the irate teenager.

"You bitch! I can't believe you told him!"

"Hey!" Dave interjected, "Do not talk-" He started, but JJ interrupted him.

"I had to tell him, Lucy! If Will was hurting Henry and someone kept that secret from me, I would kill them."

"I don't care!" She shrieked. "You promised, you PROMISED that the stuff we talked about would stay between us!"

"I'm an FBI agent and legally I _had _to tell him, but I also had a moral obligation. I'm sorry if you don't like that, but I _couldn't _keep this a secret," JJ told her.

"We're getting off track here," Dave said and both women looked at him. "I want to see your back," he told his daughter.

Lucy knew she didn't have a choice, and what did it matter anyway? He already knew what had happened; _she _had made sure of that. "Fine," she sighed and turned around so her back was facing her father.

As he lifted the back of her t-shirt, Dave prayed like he never had before. He prayed that somehow JJ had been mistaken, that the skin would be clear, because if there were bruises it would mean he missed the warning signs of abuse in his own daughter and how would he be able to live with that? He knew his prayers had been ignored as soon he saw the ugly purple blotches marring her back.

"Jesus," he hissed as he saw the marks. "We need to get you to a doctor, Luce," he said as he ran his hand lightly over her back. As he examined the bruises, JJ quietly took pictures with her camera phone; she knew that if they went after Angela legally, they would need proof of the abuse.

"No! It's not that bad," Lucy protested. The absolute _last _place she wanted to visit was the local ER.

"Are the bruises just on your back?" He asked as his brain tried to deal with what he was seeing.

"Um, no…there are some on my stomach too."

"The bruises on her back go all the way down to her thighs," JJ told him.

"God, would you shut _up_?"

"Show me," Dave demanded. Lucy turned around, faced him and pulled her t-shirt up to the bottom edge of her bra. The bruises to her stomach and ribs weren't as plentiful as the ones on her back, but they still looked pretty goddamned bad.

Seeing the look on her dad's face, Lucy dropped the hem of her shirt and tried reassuring him once again. "Seriously dad, the bruises don't hurt much…they're not too bad."

Dave's brain short-circuited at that; it was like everything crashed down on him at once and his emotions took over. "Not too bad? NOT TOO BAD! Are you kidding me? They look _horrible_! I'm going to KILL Angela! Why didn't you TELL ME THIS WAS HAPPENING?"

"SEE?" Lucy yelled at JJ, "_This_ is why I didn't want him to know! I knew he'd blame me! I knew he'd get mad at me!"

JJ understood why she was so upset and she knew Dave needed to shut up if he wanted even a tiny chance of salvaging the situation. "You need to back the hell off, Rossi, right _now_. This is in _no way_ your daughter's fault and blaming her isn't going to help anything!"

He knew his girlfriend had a point and he knew that if he kept yelling, his daughter would completely shut him out and they would get nowhere, so he forced himself to take a deep breath. "I'm not blaming you Luce," he said with a calmness he didn't feel, "And I'm not mad at you. I'm _beyond _livid with your mother and I'm frustrated that I had to hear about this from JJ, but I'm _not_ mad at you. Why didn't you tell me what was going on?"

Her dad may have been deceptively calm, but Lucy wasn't. Feeling attacked, she went on the defensive. "Would you have believed me? You don't let me defend myself against any other accusations mom makes against me; you never have, so I figured you'd side with her on this one too!" The teen yelled. "Besides, when was I supposed to tell you, dad? When have you _ever_ had a free second for me to talk to you? You're too busy with your hotshot career, your kick-ass books and your new family for me to get a word in edgewise with you! So do me a favor, don't pretend to give a damn about me now, because we both know you don't!" By the end of her tirade, there were tears streaming down her face.

"Whether you believe it or not, I love you Lucy," Dave said firmly. "And I will _always_ make time for you-" The teen's snort of disbelief interrupted him and it ratcheted up his level of irritation. "And again, I'm not blaming you for what happened, I'm frustrated that you didn't feel you could tell me about it."

"Would it have made a difference?" Lucy asked angrily, but she was genuinely curious about his answer. "If I had told you what was happening would I not have had to beg as much to move in with you? Would you have made me feel more welcome here? Would I not feel like a guest in your house?"

"A guest in my house?" Dave repeated incredulously. Was he really that unaware of his daughter's feelings? "Lucy, this is your house too and-" Suddenly the implication of her words hit him and a flash of anger and frustration hit him. "Wait a minute, THAT'S why you came to live with me?" He yelled. "Exactly how long has this been going on?"

"Since the day you left us!"

"Left you? I didn't leave you, your mother and I got divorced," he told her; did she really think he would just up and leave her? "How often does it happen?"

"Only when she drinks…or when something dramatic happens in her life," his daughter told him.

Dave shook his head incredulously, "That's all the time!" He roared.

"I know!" Lucy screamed back. "And it's all your fault! Mom turned to liquor after you left us and _that's _when her temper became worse!"

"Goddammit, I did NOT leave you!" He yelled, seeing red at the accusation. Later, he looked back on that moment as one of the few in his life where he didn't have any control between his brain and his mouth. "Your mother and I got a divorce and I still don't know how we made as long as we did! You think our breakup was all my fault? Let me tell you, sweetheart, it wasn't!" He yelled. "Your mother had affairs; lots of them! I forgave her for the first one because God knows I was never home, but the second one was more difficult to get past, and the third? That one did it for me, I knew I could never trust her again! After we split up, I wanted you to live with me but your mother wouldn't hear of it, she wanted those hefty child-support payments and since I was working so much, I thought you would be better off with her so I let her have primary custody of you and I really believed I was doing the right thing, but I guess I was wrong, wasn't I?" He asked rhetorically, the volume of his voice still much louder than normal.

"And then, three years later, you came to me and begged me to let you move in with me. You had no explanation, no reason for it other than you were unhappy with your mother! Don't you think you should have told me then what was happening to you?"

"Dave-" JJ tried interrupting, but he wouldn't let her speak.

"No, all you did was tell me you couldn't handle living with her anymore and if I didn't let you move in here, you would run away, so what choice did I have?" He yelled. "Do you really think _my_ life at that point was conducive to having a twelve year old girl living with me? I was reeling from my second divorce and I had finally carved out a life, a routine for myself but I changed all of that when you moved in with me because, unlike your mother, I don't run away from my responsibilities, I take care of them!"

There was dead silence after he finished his tirade, as the meaning of his words dawned on everyone. With a loud sob, Lucy stormed out of the room and up the stairs. A few seconds later, the sound of a slamming door filled the house.


	10. Chapter 10

Anyone But You-Chapter 10

**~Warning: This chapter deals with issues of child abuse.**

* * *

><p>Dave, who finally gained hold of his senses, realized he had pretty much told his daughter that he hadn't wanted her to move in with him, that he saw her as nothing more than a responsibility. "Oh God," he breathed. "Did I really just say all of those horrible things to her?" He was shocked and appalled by his own behavior and he knew he had to make things right with the teen before his words had a chance to lodge themselves in her memories. He also knew he would never forget the hurt look on her face as the meaning of his words had dawned on her.<p>

JJ just stared at him in a horrified shock. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She asked in a quiet voice, but Dave could hear the pure, unadulterated anger in her voice. "Your daughter just told you that her mother has been abusing her since she was 9 years old and you rant and rave at her and tell her she's nothing more than a responsibility of yours? Are you INSANE?"

"JJ," he said but she wouldn't let him get any farther.

"You have advanced degrees in psychology and THIS is how you treat your own daughter? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR EVER-LOVING MIND? Think about it for a minute Dave, if you treated an abuse victim like that on a case, what would Hotch do to you?"

"He would kick my ass and then fire me on the spot."

"You're goddamn right he would have! That girl was terrified that you would blame her, but I assured her you wouldn't, so shame on me, shame on me for not realizing what a self-centered, inconsiderate bastard you are! God, not only did you blame her, you exposed her mother's infidelity and _then_ you told her she is no more than a responsibility, a duty to you!" JJ shrieked. "Are you _trying_ to scar her for life?"

"No, God I'm really not…I just…this threw me for a huge loop and…Jesus, I have to go talk to her," he said shakily. He took exactly one step toward the staircase before JJ stepped in front of him to block him.

"What you need to do is leave her alone for a little while and let her re-group. Right now you have a _microscopic _chance of having her talk to you again sometime in this decade but God knows if you open your asinine mouth and spew any more of your vitriol at her, you'll lose her for good!"

He shook his head, "JJ I have to-"

"The only thing you have to do is shut up and listen," JJ snapped, pointing at a kitchen chair. Dave, who was still horrified by his behavior with his daughter, sank into the chair and prepared for an ass chewing of epic proportions. He wasn't disappointed.

"You are an idiot, a horse's ass and for a supposedly brilliant profiler, you can't see what's happening to your own daughter," she said. "And I'm not talking about the abuse, because she hid that pretty well, I'm talking about your blatant neglect of her."

"I've never-" he started, but he quickly closed his mouth when he saw the fire in her eyes.

"I swear to God, Rossi, if you open your mouth one more time, I'll put duct tape over it!" Dave knew it wasn't an empty threat, so he made a concerted effort to keep quiet.

"She feels abandoned, Dave," JJ said. She knew she was breaking the teen's confidence, but someone needed to set her clueless father straight. Besides, she'd already betrayed her trust, so in for a penny, in for a pound. "She doesn't think she's as important as your work, as your writing and after watching you with her for the last few months, she's right to feel that way! Can you remember _one _time in the last month when you spent any one-on-one time with her? When you had a nice conversation with her instead of ordering her around? Your priority list is pretty fucked up, Dave! She should be first, her needs and wants should be your top concern. God, I can't believe I actually have to tell you this!"

"I always assumed she didn't want to spend time with _me_," he whispered. "She's a teenager, for God's sake; no teen wants to spend time with their parents."

"If you talked to her once in a while, if you weren't such an ass towards her, then you would know that she's _desperate _for some attention from you! Why in the hell do you think she gets into so much trouble at school? The only time you pay any attention to her is when she's in trouble! And if that's not bad enough, she sees you making time for everyone else in your life, including me and Henry! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why she feels like a guest in her own home."

"She shouldn't, she knows this is _our_ house," he said with a confidence he didn't feel.

"Really?" JJ said sarcastically. "Look around Dave, do you see _anything_ that would indicate a 15 year old girl lives here?"

Dave went into profiler mode and slowly glanced around the room. Damn, she was right, there was nothing in the kitchen or, as he thought about it, the living room that was girly; the décor was totally him. To be fair, he'd had the house decorated before she moved in with him but he realized he should have let her do some things to help make it her own.

JJ saw the look of dawning in his eyes and nodded, "Yeah, so not only does your daughter feel neglected by you, which she totally is, but her house doesn't feel like a home. Add in the fact that you're always leaving town with the BAU or for to do something for one of your books, and you can understand why she thinks you don't like her."

"I love her!" He protested vehemently.

"And up until tonight, she knew that; she told me you loved her like any parent loves their kid, but she didn't think you _liked_ her and there's a big difference," she said. "Although after your astounding display of jackassery just now, she now probably doubts your love for her as well."

"Damn," he breathed, wondering how he'd manage to fuck up so badly in such a short amount of time. Ever since he saw the bruises on his daughter's back, he'd been pissed at Angela and at himself; as JJ had pointed out numerous times, he was a world-class profiler and he'd missed this in his own daughter? He'd missed how she'd been feeling living with him? A green recruit coming out of Profiling 101 could have picked up on all of this, yet he missed every bit of it. Unfortunately, he'd projected his anger onto the most fragile target and he wondered if he would ever be able to make things right with her.

As if she could read his mind, JJ said, "You need to take your head out of your ass before you completely lose her. You have to start making her happiness and well-being the main concern in your life. You have to get it through your thick skull that the universe doesn't revolve around you and your wants and needs. You have to start acting like a caring father towards your daughter and even then I don't know if it will be enough; you REALLY fucked up tonight!"

"It will be," he said. "I'll do whatever I have to in order to fix things with Lucy."

"Good," JJ said firmly as she picked up her purse. "And I think you and I need to take a break."

"What?" He asked in disbelief.

JJ nodded, "You can't focus on Lucy with me and Henry in your life, you'll be stretched in too many directions. Besides…"

"Besides what?"

"Honestly? I don't know that I want you around Henry anymore," she said and her words cut like a knife to his heart. "If you can act like that with your own daughter after she admitted that she's been abused for the last six years, then God knows what you're capable of saying to my son."

"JJ, I was overcome with guilt and anger towards Angela and I temporarily lost it, but it won't happen again, especially not with the kids."

"The only way you'll _ever _be able to prove that to me is by making things right with your daughter. Until then, I think it's best if we didn't see each other outside of work."

"I _will_ prove it to you; I'll prove it to you _and _Lucy," he promised.

"Good," she said as she headed for the stairs. "I'm going to say goodbye to Lucy."

As she went up the steps, she wondered what she would say to the girl. What _could_ she say? She'd just had all of her worst fears confirmed by her father and then some; what could she possibly offer the teen? She stood outside her bedroom door for a moment and was somewhat surprised that she didn't hear crying coming from the room. She raised her hand, knocked and wasn't surprised when there was no answer. She knocked again.

"Lucy? It's JJ. I just wanted to let you know that you're more than welcome to stay with me if you need to get away from here for a little while. I know tonight was-" She was cut off as the door flung open and revealed a livid Lucy Rossi.

"Stay with you? WHY would I stay with YOU?" She shouted. "You TOLD him! You told him _everything! _I begged you not to, I told you it would make things worse and you told him anyway! Not only will I NEVER stay with you, I HATE YOU!" The teen ended her tirade with a scream and slammed the door in her face.

JJ felt like she'd been punched in the gut; sure she hadn't expected Lucy to be happy with her, but she hadn't expected this level of anger from her either. With a sigh, she went back down to the first floor. After Dave worked things out with her, she would give it a go because she would be goddamned if all of the work she put into helping the teen for the past month was going to go to waste.

"I'm sorry, JJ, really I am," she heard Dave say from the entryway to the living room.

"Don't tell me, tell her," she said, jerking her head towards the stairs. "But I would give her a little longer to cool off if I were you."

He nodded and held the door open for her. He watched as she got into her car and drove off into the night and it felt like a piece of his heart had gone with her.

After watching her taillights fade out of sight, he closed the door and walked back into the kitchen. Once he was back in the room, his anger returned, except this time it was directed at his ex-wife. He saw red as he picked up his cell phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Hello?" His ex-wife slurred and he could tell she had been drinking, probably for most of the day, if not the entire long weekend.

"How could you?" He snarled through clenched teeth. "How could you do that to your own daughter, _our_ daughter?"

"David, is that you?" She asked, unconcerned by his tone.

"Yes it's me, you bitch! How could you hurt Lucy like that?"

"I have no earthly idea what you're talking about, David," she told him as she made herself another screwdriver.

"Then let me refresh your memory!" He yelled. "I'm talking about OUR DAUGHTER arriving home COVERED in bruises; bruises YOU gave her!"

"Oh, it's not that bad," she scoffed as she took a gulp of her fresh drink. "She had it coming to her."

Dave was astounded, "So you're not even trying to deny hurting her? What in the hell did she do that warranted such a beating?" He yelled. He was ready to go to the cabin to murder her. His father always taught him to never hit a woman, but he sorely wanted to give Angela a taste of what his daughter had gotten from her.

"She didn't do any _one _thing, it was a lot of little things. Trust me Dave, the only thing that girl understands is a good crack to the back or stomach. Besides, I never leave marks where anyone can see, so what's the big deal? It's not like anyone will ever question it, although I _am _surprised she told _you _about it since I told her to keep it to herself. I'll have to discuss that with her the next time I see her."

Dave, who was both shocked and disgusted by what he heard, was silent for a moment. The one thing he remembered about his ex-wife was that alcohol worked like a truth serum for her and he'd gotten the most honest answer he could have out of her.

"You listen to me, you bitch, and you listen well," he said lethally. "If you _ever_ come near my daughter again or try to contact her in _any_ way, I will kill you. I know people say that a lot, but I really mean it. I. Will. Kill. You. I always knew you were a selfish, _crazy _bitch but I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until now."

"You can't take my daughter away from me David, I'm her mother," she slurred tearily.

"You have _never _acted like it, so this shouldn't bother you at all. If you're _very _lucky, I won't press charges against you, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one if I was you."

"I'll fight back! I'll dredge up every sordid detail from our marriage! I'll ruin you in the court records!"

"I don't care! Do what you want to me, but I'll die before I let you hurt Lucy again!" With that, he slammed his phone shut and had to resist throwing it against the wall.

xxxxxxxxxx

After JJ left, Lucy paced for a minute, still wondering what she should do. As she wiped yet another tear from her eye, she spotted her go-bag near her closet door and the idea hit her. Her father saw her as nothing but a responsibility, so she would remedy the situation, she would no longer _be_ his responsibility. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and into regular clothes, grabbed her bag, threw her wallet and the small amount of cash she had in the bag and zipped it up. Fuck this! She didn't need any more of her dad's bullshit and she sure as _hell_ didn't need any more adults coming down on her; she didn't care if she had to beg for money in the street, it had to be better than this.

As she opened her door, she heard her dad yelling at her mom in the kitchen. 'Perfect!' She thought as she crept down the stairs. She would have sauntered out past her dad if she'd had to, but this way she could leave with little hassle.

Without a backwards glance, Lucy made her way to the front door and stepped through it, shutting the door firmly behind her. She had no idea where she was going to go, but wherever she went had to be better than staying here. She took a deep breath, started down the sidewalk and disappeared into the night.


	11. Chapter 11

Anyone But You-Chapter 11

**~Thanks to Kdzl and Ilovetvalot! I used many of their suggestions in this chapter.**

**~This chapter is a monster, but since I didn't post yesterday, I decided not to break it up. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>After he ended the call with his ex-wife, all Dave wanted to do was sit down with a bottle of his favorite scotch, but he didn't because he knew he eventually had to talk to his daughter, both about his words and actions and those of her mother. He was still sketchy on the level of abuse she'd suffered over the years and he needed a clearer picture. He also had to make sure that she didn't require medical attention for the beating her mother gave her.<p>

As that thought hit his mind, he sat down heavily in a kitchen chair. Beating. Angela had actually _beaten _their daughter. Jesus, while he was cuddling up to JJ all weekend, Lucy had been enduring untold suffering at the hands of the woman who was supposed to love her more than life itself. How could a parent do that to their child? Sure, she'd gotten the infrequent swat across the backside from him while growing up, but it was for things like running into the street without looking and it had _never _even come _close_ to crossing over into abuse and he could count on one hand the number of times he'd resorted to physically disciplining her. But Angela…she'd hadn't had any qualms about telling him that she hit Lucy as a way to get through to her!

As much as he would've loved to cast total judgment over his ex-wife and her actions, he couldn't because he finally realized that he'd hurt her as badly as Angela had; maybe even worse. Until JJ pointed it out to him with stunning accuracy tonight, he'd never realized what a shitty and inconsiderate father he'd been. Any profiler could have seen what he should have and yet he remained blissfully unaware that his daughter felt unloved and unwelcome in his life. Anyone with a basic psychology degree could've seen that her acting out at school was a cry for attention, but not him; no, he was too busy being the hotshot FBI agent…he was too busy creating the perfect life for himself and, in the process, he'd forgotten to take her wants and needs into account. The physical bruises Angela had given her would heal fairly quickly, the psychological ones he'd given her would take much longer to heal.

That in itself would have been bad enough, but then he cinched the title of worst father on the planet when Lucy told him about the abuse she'd suffered from her mother and he'd yelled at her like a madman…no, he'd done worse than that. As he thought back to what he'd said to Lucy, he realized he had acted just as badly as Angela had only instead of fists, he'd used words to hurt his daughter and he knew he would regret it until the day he died.

What he had to do now was come up with a plan to get her back. He knew he would have to grovel and beg in order to even get her to listen to him and he didn't quite know how to do that as he had never really been one to seek forgiveness, but he knew he would do whatever it took to get her back. He also knew he had a long road ahead of him, there wouldn't be any quick fixes in his relationship with his daughter, he had to spend time with her and get to know her better. She also needed to know her importance in his life; she needed to know that he doesn't see her as merely a responsibility. Again, as he thought back to the words he'd yelled at her, be nearly became physically ill; he knew it wouldn't be easy getting her back, but he would try his damnedest and he wouldn't give up, not even if she called him every name in the book and shut him out.

When he finally looked up, he realized an hour had gone by since JJ had left him, both for the evening and in general, and he knew it was time to talk to his daughter. Taking a deep breath, he got up from his chair, went up the stairs and knocked on her bedroom door.

"Luce, it's me, can I come in?" He received no answer, so he knocked again. "Look honey, I know you're angry and upset and you have every right to be, but we need to talk." Again, he got no response from her so he knocked a third time. "I'm coming in, Lucy."

He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it. A large part of him was surprised to find the door unlocked, but he thanked his lucky stars that it was because he wasn't sure what he would have done at that point. He opened her bedroom door and walked in, expecting to find her on her bed or at her desk. Instead, he found the room deserted.

"What the hell?" He muttered as he left her room and went down the hallway to check the bathroom. Empty. Fighting a feeling of panic in his gut, he checked the rest of the house and the backyard before picking up his cell phone. Feeling ashamed of himself because Lucy was number two in his speed dial (Hotch was number one), he hit the button and waited for her to pick up; he almost jumped out of his skin when the phone rang loudly in her book bag, which was near his feet.

His feeling of panic grew into one of outright fear and helplessness as he dialed JJ's number. "Dave, when I said we should take a break from each other, I meant for more than a few hours," she said tiredly as she answered her phone.

"Is Lucy with you?" He asked, and he could hear the fear and hysteria in his own voice.

"No," she said, more alert. "You heard her; she's pissed at me for telling you about everything. Why, is she not there?"

Dave shook his head, forgetting she couldn't see him. "I went up to talk to her and she wasn't in her room. I've looked everywhere for her and I've come up empty."

"Shit," JJ said. "She must have snuck out."

"I'm calling the police," he said and was about to hang up when JJ stopped him.

"Dave, no! I know you're worried about her and so am I, but if you put a BOLO out on her and some random DC metro cop finds her they'll haul her into Juvie and she'll be charged; at the very least she'll spend the night in lockup. After the night she's had, do you really want her to have to go through all of that?"

"No, but I can't have her wandering around the city at all hours of the night!"

"Lucy's a smart girl and I'm willing to bet that she'll stay with a friend tonight. If you don't hear from her by tomorrow morning, then we'll definitely contact the police, but for right now you need to hang tight."

He blew out a breath. "Okay, we'll do it your way, but if she's not back in this house by 6am, I'm calling in the cavalry."

xxxxxxxxxx

Dave spent the next eight hours in the kitchen, staring at the clock and willing the phone to ring with some news about his daughter, but it never did, nor did she return from wherever she was holing up. An hour after he called JJ, it dawned on him that since she'd left her phone, he had all of the names and phone numbers of her friends. He began calling all of the numbers, hoping to hear _something _about his daughter, but no one had any information. He also wondered what it said about him that he didn't know over 75% of the contacts in her address book. Once again, he vowed to become a much more involved parent in her life.

At six o'clock on the dot, he called a few of his contacts on DC Metro PD and asked them to keep an eye out for Lucy. He also told them that if they found her, they should call him instead of bringing her in to Juvie. Because Dave had helped the guys out in the past, he was fairly sure they would follow his directions. After he hung up with his cop friends, he called JJ.

"Any news?" She asked by way of greeting.

"None, I didn't hear from her all night," he said and JJ could hear the worry and desperation in his voice.

"Okay Dave, we need to keep calm," she said with a serenity she didn't feel. After the previous night's blowout, Lucy could be anywhere, she could have _done _anything and JJ was as worried about her as Dave was. "It's almost seven so I think it's time to call the team so they can help us find her."

"You're right, but not much of the team is in town this weekend," he told her. "Emily and Reid went to a big sci-fi convention in Philadelphia and Morgan is in Chicago for his niece's baptism. The only ones left are Garcia and Hotch."

"I'll call them and have them meet us at the BAU," JJ said. "Between the four of us, we should be able to find her."

"Okay," he said. "I'm going to stop by Eastern Market on my way in; I know she likes going there on the weekends and maybe she's there now, so I'll meet you at the office."

"Okay Dave, and don't worry, we'll find her," JJ assured him, feeling anything but confident in her promise.

"Yeah, but when we do will she want anything to do with me?" He asked and JJ's silence on the other end was enough of an answer for him. He disconnected the call, grabbed his keys and headed for the garage. Just as he was about to get into his car, his phone rang. Seeing it was his best friend, he didn't ignore it.

"Hey Jimmy, what's up?" Dave asked as he started his car.

"Sorry to call you so early, Davie, but Lucy told me last night that she was planning on becoming a full-time boarder next year and she forgot her housing application in my office. The deadline is next week, so I thought I would fax the forms to you wherever you're staying."

As soon as his friend mentioned his daughter, Dave hit the brakes and listened with rapt attention. "Wait, she was THERE last night?"

"Well yeah," Father Jimmy said, confused. "She showed up at around ten and said you had to go out of town on a case."

"Thank God," Dave breathed. "Jimmy, keep her there until I get there."

"She's gone, she signed out for the day," his friend told him and Dave felt his sense of relief deflate a bit; he still didn't know where she was, but at least she'd been safe during the night. He also had to admit that she was pretty clever; given her feelings about staying at school while he was out of town, it was the LAST place he would have thought to check.

"Jimmy listen, we had a huge fight last night and she ran away. I'm about to head over to the BAU so I can get the team's help in finding her. Can you meet me there?"

The priest nodded, forgetting his friend couldn't see him. "Definitely, I'll head over there now; I'll also say a prayer for her…for both of you."

xxxxxxxxxx

An hour and a half later, Dave walked into the BAU bullpen and saw JJ, Hotch, Garcia and Jimmy in the conference room. He'd walked around Eastern Market for an hour looking for Lucy, but he'd come up empty, so everyone had beaten him to the office. He knew JJ must have filled everyone in by now and he was a little afraid to enter the roundtable room. While his team members weren't very close to Lucy, he knew they all had a soft spot in their hearts for kids. Taking a deep breath, he walked up the short staircase and entered the room. As soon as he did, all conversation stopped for a moment and then Hotch, Jimmy and Garcia all began yelling at him. No one could make sense of their words and after a minute, JJ gave a shrill whistle to quiet everyone down.

"I know we all want to kick Dave's ass, but we have to focus on finding Lucy. According to Father Jimmy, Lucy was last seen at breakfast at six-thirty this morning, so she's only had a few hours to herself."

"Why in the hell did you let her leave?" Dave snapped at his holy friend. "Why in the hell am I paying so much tuition if you just let the kids run loose?"

"First," Jimmy began through clenched teeth, "The school is not a prison; the high school students are allowed free reign during the weekends as long as they sign out. Second, if I'd known what you said to her last night, I definitely would have kept her at the school while I paid you a visit!"

Knowing his friend was close to Lucy, Dave tried to backtrack, "Jimmy look, I'm-"

"Save it Davie," he snapped. "We'll talk later."

"I have a BOLO out on her and I made sure that she won't be taken into custody when she's found," Hotch told him. "Garcia is also tracking her debit card, her email and her facebook account."

"If she tries to go back on the grid, I'll know," she said, glaring at him.

"Thanks you guys, really," Dave said gratefully.

"I'm doing this for your daughter, Agent Rossi, not you!" Garcia said and her voice got louder with each word. "Because from what JJ told us, you don't _deserve _to have a daughter! How could you say such horrible things to her? How could you blame _her_ for what her mother did to her? Are you the biggest asshole on the planet?" Her tirade ended in a screech that only bats and dogs could hear.

"Garcia, I-"

She shook her head, "No Rossi, don't even try to explain yourself because there is NO excuse for what you did to that poor girl! All she wanted was to be loved by _one _of her parents and you took that away from her last night!"

"Dammit, I DO love her and I _will_ make things right with her!" He snapped.

Garcia opened her mouth to yell back at him, but Hotch spoke first. "You and I need to take a walk outside," he said through clenched teeth as he moved toward the door.

"What? No, we really don't Hotch, I want to stay here and wait for news about Lucy."

"A short walk then, just out to the front lawn."

Dave finally looked at the man, "What the hell is the matter with you, Hotch? I told you I'm not leaving."

"Look Dave, I _am _going to beat the crap out of you for what you said to Lucy but, as a sworn agent of the law, I can't do it in a federal building," Hotch said and he watched his friend's eyes grow big.

"Hang on, Hotch," he said, trying to defend himself. Unfortunately, his other close friend had other ideas.

"Thankfully, Agent Hotchner, I am not bound by the same ideals," Jimmy said right before he slammed his fist into Dave's jaw.

Dave, who hadn't been expecting the sucker punch, went down hard. "Owwww, fuck Jimmy!" He said as he got up from the floor. As soon as he was on his feet, Jimmy's fist slammed into his nose and he went back down.

"Not real bright, is he?" Garcia asked JJ as she looked at the priest with new respect.

"No, he really isn't," she said. "For the love of God Dave, just stay down before he kills you."

"Your daughter came to you, reluctantly told you she'd been abused by her mother for the past SIX years and you blamed HER? You told her she was no more than a responsibility to you, that raising her was no more than a JOB for you? What is the matter with you?" The priest shouted as he loomed over his friend, who was still on the floor. "Your mother is spinning in her grave right now and your father? Well after I talked to him this morning, he has _more _than a few words to say to you!"

"Shit, you called my dad? You might as well just finish me off now!"

"Don't tempt me!" Jimmy yelled as he took a threatening step towards his friend, who had just gotten up from the floor. Hotch, who was enjoying the show immensely, put a restraining hand on the priest's shoulder.

"As much as I would love to watch you kick the ever-loving hell out of Rossi right now, we _are _in a federal building and there's only so much I can let slide."

"Fine," Jimmy said through clenched teeth, "But once you leave this building, all bets are off Davie!"

"Amen to that," Hotch muttered and Garcia nodded her agreement, thinking of the havoc she would wreak with her personal computer.

"Dave, why don't you get cleaned up?" JJ suggested, looking at the blood on his clothing. "I know you have a spare shirt in your office, why don't you go change into it?"

"I'll help," Jimmy said, moving behind him.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Hotch said.

"Oh, I think it's a _great _idea, Hotch," JJ disagreed.

"I promise, I won't hurt him," the priest said, holding up his right hand as if taking an oath.

Dave looked warily at his friend and nodded. The two of them went up to Dave's office and Jimmy shut the door behind him. "You really screwed up this time," Jimmy said as Dave went to the closet that held the clean shirt.

"I know I did Jimmy, believe me. As I yelled those awful things at my daughter, I kept thinking 'who is this madman screaming at Lucy?' It was just such a shock learning that Angela has been hurting her all of these years. What kind of father doesn't know that about his own daughter? What kind of father doesn't know his own daughter at all?"

"A crappy one," Jimmy said as he reached into Dave's desk and pulled out the bottle of scotch.

"I don't want anything to drink; I want to keep a clear head for when I talk to Lucy," Dave told him.

"Do you see me pouring one for you, asshole?" Jimmy asked as he poured himself a shot and quickly threw it back.

"Nice language choice there, Father," Dave said sarcastically.

"I call 'em as I see 'em," Jimmy shrugged as he returned the bottle to the desk and then sat down on the sofa. "Why don't you tell me what's been going on with Lucy?"

Dave did. He and Jimmy talked for nearly an hour before Garcia burst into his office without knocking; JJ and Hotch followed after her. "I know where she is!"

"Where?" Dave asked, jumping out of his seat.

"I flagged her debit card and your credit cards as a precaution and she just used a credit card in your name to buy a train ticket to New York!"

"She must have used the emergency card I gave her," Dave said. "When does it leave?"

"It pulls out of Union Station at 8:48am," Garcia told him.

"Damn, that doesn't give us much time," Dave said as he glanced at the clock. "Hotch, can you-"

"I've got a bureau SUV waiting. Let's go!" The men dashed out of the office, but before they left the bullpen, JJ called out, "Don't screw this one up, Rossi!"

He stopped and looked at the woman he loved. "Don't worry Jen; I'll do whatever it takes to make things right with her." JJ nodded and the men left the bullpen. As they ran down the stairs, Dave prayed they would get to Lucy in time.

* * *

><p>AN 2: **From ilovetvalot and tonnie2001969: ****The Second Annual Profiler's Choice Awards are up & running at "Chit Chat on Author's Corner" forum. The nomination ballot IS available! Please, please, please READ the rules and category descriptions before casting your noms. Time is running out...the nomination period is half over. The LAST day to submit your ballot is October 15, 2011, 11:59pm EDT. Remember, without you guys there'd be no awards! HAVE A BALL! We're SUPER EXCITED!**


	12. Chapter 12

Anyone But You-Chapter 12

~**From ilovetvalot and tonnie2001969: ****The Second Annual Profiler's Choice Awards are up & running at "Chit Chat on Author's Corner" forum. The nomination ballot IS available! Please, please, please READ the rules and category descriptions before casting your noms. Time is running out...the nomination period is half over. The LAST day to submit your ballot is October 15, 2011, 11:59pm EDT. Remember, without you guys there'd be no awards! HAVE A BALL! We're SUPER EXCITED!**

* * *

><p>"What are you going to say to her?" Hotch asked as he drove like a bat out of hell to get Dave to the train station. He knew if Lucy actually made it to New York, it would exponentially harder to find her there, that is assuming New York was her actual destination. She was a smart kid and she would've probably realized they were tracking her cards and he didn't put it past her to buy a ticket to New York just to throw them off her trail.<p>

"What _can _I say?" Dave asked rhetorically. "How do I explain why I've been an asshole towards her for fifteen years? How do I apologize for what I said to her last night? For Christ's sake, I told her she's nothing more than a responsibility for me and I've sure as hell proved that over the years, haven't I? Jesus Hotch, can't you go any faster? I've seen little old ladies drive to church go faster than you!"

Hotch sighed as he pressed down a bit harder on the gas pedal. "Look Dave, far be it from me to defend you right now, but I'm sure you weren't always an ass to her. I'm sure you had at least a _couple _of good years with her."

He shook his head, "Nope, from the moment she was born I've been absent in her life, at first physically and now emotionally. JJ's right, I've been a neglectful father and last night I clinched the title of worst father on the planet. It's a wonder she hasn't turned into an unsub yet."

"God, you really _do_ have a flair for the dramatics, don't you?" Hotch muttered as he flipped on the siren to get around the ever-present traffic in the nation's capital. Thankfully it was a Sunday, which meant the roads weren't too congested, but he knew time was of the essence. "Just talk to her, Dave. She's probably not going to be too receptive at first, and she might scream and curse your very existence, but she has a right to those feelings and my advice would be to just sit there and take it."

"I will," he promised and breathed a sigh of relief when the train station came into view. "I'm going to need at least a week off; it's going to take awhile for me to fix things with Lucy and I want to show her that I'll put everything aside for her." Aaron nodded his approval as he stopped in front of the large, stately building and watched as his friend jumped out.

"Thanks Hotch, thanks for all of your help."

"Just find Lucy and make things right with her or I'll follow up on my earlier threat," his boss said. Dave nodded and ran into the building.

He cut across the shopping mall and through the food court before he actually got to the train part of the station. As he entered through the large double doors, he spotted Lucy sitting on a bench by herself and she looked absolutely shattered; exhaustion and sadness were evident in her face and her eyes were puffy, probably from crying most of the night. Also, as she shifted position, he saw her wince in pain.

He breathed a sigh of relief at finding her in time, but he also knew he was largely responsible for her current state of mind. As for the flash of pain he saw flit across her face…well, whether she liked it or not, she would most likely be visiting a doctor before the day was out; her being pissed at him was one thing, but he wouldn't let her put her health at risk just to get back at him. As he studied her, the train to New York was announced overhead and he watched as Lucy got up to join the boarding line. Knowing he needed to do something, Dave quickly bought a ticket at the automated machine and jumped aboard the train just as it was about to pull out of the station.

He'd lost track of her while he was buying his ticket, so he'd jumped on the last car in order to search for her without having to backtrack. Thankfully for him, he found her in the second to last car. She was facing forward and looking out the window at the passing city, so she didn't see him enter from the rear of the car.

Lucy sighed as she felt someone sit down next to her; it was Sunday and the car was nearly empty, did this guy really need to sit next to her? All she wanted to do was zone out on trip to New York because she knew she would need all of her wits about her over the upcoming days as she tried to establish a life for herself in the big city. As she pondered her fate, she smelled a familiar cologne and finally looked at the man sitting next to her. Shit! How in the _hell_ did HE find her?

"What are _you_ doing here?" She snapped in disbelief. Of all the freaking times for him to care about where she was!

"I'm looking for you, Peanut," he said, calling her by her childhood nickname. If he thought that would melt her heart, he'd thought wrong.

"How did you find me?"

"You used a credit card to buy the ticket; you had to know we'd be tracking that."

"I honestly didn't think you'd notice I was gone," she told him and the funny thing was, she didn't say it rudely, she honestly believed he wouldn't know she had left the house.

He winced at that; partly because he could hear the anger and hurt in her voice, but mostly because there was more than a kernel of truth to what she'd said. On any given day, she _could've _snuck out and he _wouldn't _have realized it, but this wasn't a normal day, this was Dave's first day as a caring and attentive father.

"Lucy," he said gently, "I can't let you go to New York by yourself, I can't let you just leave like this"

"Yes you can!" She exclaimed. "I don't want to be your _responsibility _anymore!"

"You're not my responsibility, you're my daughter and I love you too much to let you leave," he told her gently but firmly.

Lucy wanted to yell back at him, to scream at him and make him feel as shitty as she'd felt the previous night, but she knew it wouldn't do either of them any good so she just faced the window and kept quiet.

Dave, who was once again thankful that the car was mostly empty, kept speaking even though his daughter was ignoring him. "I love you honey," he repeated, "And I am so incredibly sorry about last night…hell, not just last night, but your whole life. You deserve better than a self-absorbed, shitty father and a crazy and abusive mother. How you haven't murdered either one of us in our sleep is a testament to your strength and character." He'd said that last part as an attempt at levity but Lucy didn't even look over at him.

"Last night," he continued, "I said so many things I didn't mean and I wish I could take them all back! First, I'm sorry I ever even hinted that the abuse you suffered at your mother's hand is even the tiniest bit your fault because it isn't and I should have handled the situation _much _better than I did. Second, I have never seen you as simply a responsibility in my life. You're my daughter and I've always seen you as a blessing in my life. Third, not only do I love you, but I _like _you as well; I know I have trouble showing that, but you are the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me and if I have to spend the rest of my life proving that to you, then I will; I will do whatever it takes to make things right with you, Luce. I want to be your dad, not just the guy who helped raise you."

He'd expected some sort of reaction to his emotional apologies, but Lucy just kept staring out the window. Finally, after a long pause, she asked, "Are you finished?"

He nodded, "Yup." He expected her to scream at him but she just kept looking out the window.

"Good," she responded emotionlessly. If he thought he could fix everything during the three-hour train ride to the city, he had another thing coming. At that moment, all Lucy wanted to do was move to a different train car, but she knew he would follow her if she did, so she stayed put and continued to block him out for the rest of the trip.


	13. Chapter 13

Anyone But You-Chapter 13

**~Once again, I owe a huge thanks to Ilovetvalot and Kdzl for helping me with this chapter and the next couple of chapters. You guys rock!**

* * *

><p>As the train travelled north towards New York City, Lucy pondered the man sitting next to her and it took all of her might to keep facing the window as he told her how sorry he was and how much he loved her. That was supposed to make up for everything? She was just supposed to forget about all of the horrible things he'd said the previous night? Did he really think a ten minute conversation would make up for a lifetime of feeling like she was never good enough for him? When he finally shut up, she had to resist the urge to turn and tell him it was too fucking late! She'd learned how to take care of herself long ago and she didn't need him in her life anymore. What the fuck did he think she did while he worked thirteen hours a day? Did he think her meals just magically appeared in front of her? Did he really think a magic genie came and did their laundry? In his world, did the refrigerator just magically re-stock itself? She'd worked her ass off to keep the house running so he would realize she was good to have around and what did she get for her troubles? Him yelling that she was no more than a responsibility in his life and that's why he took her in, even though it had clearly been a huge imposition for him. Fuck that! She didn't need that! Her mother caused enough pain in her life, she didn't need her dad's bullshit heaped on her as well! It was one thing to have him ignore her, she could pretty much deal with that…not very well, but she could deal, but she couldn't live with him when she knew she was a big inconvenience to him.<p>

Her thoughts about her life and her dad consumed her for the rest of the trip and she was somewhat surprised to see the city line come into view. Ten minutes later they pulled into Penn Station and silently got off of the train. Lucy expected they would go back to the ticket booth so they could head back to DC, so she was surprised when her dad headed for the exit.

"Where are you going?" She asked in confusion.

"To grab a taxi," he said. "I thought you wanted to spend some time in the city."

"Well…yeah, but…" she trailed off. It was true, she did want to spend some time in the city, but this wasn't quite what she'd had in mind when she'd boarded the train that morning. No, her plan involved her somehow starting a new life there; a new life that didn't include either one of her parents.

"Okay, to actually see the city, we have to leave the train station," he told her a bit sarcastically.

Lucy glared at him and, for the first time that day, really looked at him. "Holy crap, what happened to your face?" She asked, pointing at his black eye.

"Jimmy Davison is what happened," Dave replied, "JJ told him about last night and he sucker punched me, twice!"

Lucy snorted and flashed a smug smile, "Good." The smile disappeared from her face as she thought about his words. "Wait, why was he with you and JJ?"

"Because the three of us were at the BAU trying to track you down, along with Hotch and Garcia," he explained as they lined up in the taxi queue.

"Are they pissed at me?" She asked. "You hauled them in on a Saturday morning." It was one thing to inconvenience her dad, but she knew the others had little free time as it was and she didn't want them giving it up for her.

"Pissed at you? No," he said wryly. "Pissed at me? Very much so." It was the longest she'd talked to him all morning, and he'd hoped to keep the conversation flowing, but she just nodded and looked away.

They finally got to the front of the line and got into a cab. To Lucy's surprise, her dad directed the driver to take them to the Plaza hotel. "Wait, we're staying? Don't you have to work tomorrow?"

He shook his head, "No, I took the week off to spend it with you."

"Oh," she said softly and his heart ached at the look of disbelief that flashed across her face. Did she really think he'd just come here and haul her back to DC? Was it really so shocking that he'd take time off to spend with her? Apparently it was and it served to remind him just how neglectful he'd been with her.

After a thirty minute cab ride, they pulled up in front of the opulent hotel and the doorman opened the cab door for them. Lucy giggled at that and the sound of her laughter brought a smile to Dave's face as it had been awhile since he'd heard it. They walked into the hotel and Lucy looked around at the ritzy lobby while Dave secured their accommodations. After that, they took the elevator to the eleventh floor and walked down a short hallway before Dave stopped in front of a door. "This is it," he said as he slid the keycard into the slot.

"We're sharing a room?" Lucy asked and the look on her face told him that she'd rather spend the night in a pit full of rattlesnakes than share the same space as him.

He nodded, "I get that I hurt you badly last night, so I understand why you tried running away, but right now I don't trust that you won't try it again, so we're sharing a suite." The door opened to reveal one of the fanciest hotel rooms that Lucy had ever stayed in. There was a small sitting area with an elaborate sofa and two elegant wing chairs along with an ornate coffee table. The desk was large and she could see the hook-up for both wired and wireless internet and, not for the first time, she cursed herself for leaving her book bag at home since it had her laptop, cell phone and iPod in it. As sad as she was about her missing electronics, the huge plasma TV on the wall almost made up for it, as did the view of Central Park through the large, floor-to-ceiling windows. She peeked into the bedroom and saw two queen sized beds made up in luxurious linens and it made her realize just how tired she was. While she'd stayed at the dorms for the night, she had been too upset to sleep and, as a result, she had been fueled by adrenalin all morning and it was now she was crashing.

She tried stifling her large yawn behind her hand, but Dave caught it. "Tired?" She nodded. "Why don't you go take a hot shower and then you can get some sleep."

She nodded again and then stretched. As she did, her shirt rode up a little bit and Dave could see a few of the bruises on her stomach and ribs. While they didn't look great, at least they didn't look any worse than the previous night. "I know you hate me and you don't want to talk to me right now, but I need to honestly know if we should have a doctor look at the bruises your mother gave you."

Lucy thought for a second before she shook her head. "I know it looks bad, but I'm really okay; I've had worse bruises than these before." While she didn't say it as a jab at her dad, Dave took it as one and felt immensely guilty. Jesus, she'd had worse beatings than this? Angela was SO dead when he got back to DC!

Having answered his question, Lucy moved towards the bathroom. As she walked past her dad, he snagged her arm and pulled her into a gentle hug.

"What are you doing?" She asked in disbelief as she stood ramrod straight in his embrace.

"This is what's known as a hug, Lucy," he explained, with her still in his arms. "It's what people do to show affection for each other. I know I haven't done this much in your life, but you should get used to it because I'll be doing it a lot more in the future." He finally released her and she just stared at him for a second before moving into the bathroom. While she hadn't hugged him back, she hadn't pulled away and it was a start.


	14. Chapter 14

Anyone But You-Chapter 14

* * *

><p>Dave was in purgatory. As he stood in the shower of the opulent hotel suite, he realized that this was as close to hell as he'd ever been. Hanging out with Lucy wasn't the bad part of it…not really; it was the places they'd visited that had made him batty. When he came to New York by himself, he generally met with his publisher and editor and then had nice meals in fantastic restaurants. When he had free time, he spent it going to local's places, but Lucy…God, Lucy had chosen every touristy destination the city had to offer.<p>

In retrospect, he'd made a colossal mistake letting her choose their destinations, considering all that had happened, and he knew she both wanted to go to the places and she was punishing him at the same time, so he'd sucked it up and hadn't complained, but good God! The first day they were there, after they both had taken naps, they'd gone shopping, which he hated but he hadn't packed a bag so he needed everything from socks to aftershave. Even though Lucy had brought her own 'go bag,' she also needed some additional clothing items to get her through the week, so they'd shopped for her as well. After that, they grabbed a quick dinner at one of the deli's that seemed to be on every corner and then went back to the hotel to relax in front of the large television in the sitting room.

The next day, they went to the top of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, and the Museum of Modern Art. The last one was the killer for him since he much preferred classical art to the modern junk, but he'd gone with a smile. After an authentic dinner in Little Italy, they'd gone back to the hotel to relax by the large indoor pool. Since they'd stopped at Barnes and Noble during their shopping trip, they each had a few books to tide them over for their trip.

He thought the touristy crap would be done by today, but he'd been dead wrong. It started with a trip to Times Square, followed by visiting the South Street Seaport. After that, they went back to Manhattan and wandered around for the rest of the afternoon before she dragged him on a hike through Central Park. After a dinner at a local burger joint, he was exhausted and so was she, so he'd called it an early night.

The worst part of the trip wasn't the destinations Lucy had chosen, it was that she was still giving him a VERY cold shoulder. Obviously he knew that things wouldn't be fixed between them in two days, but he'd hoped she would see he was trying and warm up to him a little, but that hadn't happened. In addition to being cold towards him, she also spoke to him only when she absolutely had to. He'd never taken a trip with someone who wouldn't speak to him and it made the days very long and lonely. Hell, even his ex-wives hadn't made him sit through silent dinners; if anything they were _too _vocal when they were displeased with him, but even that was better than the silent treatment. He knew it was going to be a long week.

He finally stepped out of the shower, dried himself off and put on his pajamas. He stepped out into the sitting room and found Lucy standing in front of the floor to ceiling windows, staring out at the city.

"So why New York?" He asked. Lucy turned and faced him and she had a questioning expression on her face.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"Why were you going to run away to New York? You don't have any friends or family here."

She shrugged, "I guess it seemed like the best idea at the time. I couldn't go back to mom, she'd kill me for telling you about what happened, and you don't want me, so New York seemed like a place where I could do something. I figured if worse came to worse, I could go somewhere else from here."

He shook his head slightly, "I _do_ want you, Luce," he said. "I love having you live with me. I was an ass the other night and I only said what I did because I was angry at myself for being a shitty dad and for not being able to protect you, but I was _not_ angry with you."

The teen pondered his words for a moment. "You know? It must be nice to be able to say whatever you want without any consequences. If _I _had done that, I would've gotten into big trouble!"

Dave considered her words and then nodded, "You're right, let me have it," he said making a 'gimme motion' with his hands.

"What?"

"You're obviously still pissed at me and you have every right to be, so let me have it. Scream everything you want at me, tell me exactly how I've hurt your feelings and pissed you off." He could tell she was considering it and he hoped she really would scream at him; it would be better than the silent anger and hurt.

"You really want me to? You really want me to 'open up' to you?" She asked, using air quotes. Dave nodded so she took a deep breath. "What you said the other night sucked! God! JJ told you mom has been beating me for SIX years and you ordered me around like I was a criminal! You demanded things in your typical 'master of the universe' way. Did you _ever _wonder how hard that night was for me? One of my biggest secrets was revealed and you treated me like I was just some _thing _for you to command! And then you reacted like it was my fault! I _told _JJ that would happen but she didn't believe me and you know what? I could've probably gotten over you blaming me, but then you opened your mouth again and all bets were off." By this time, her eyes were brimming with tears and her dad could see the emotional pain on her face. "I'm an obligation to you? A responsibility? If you didn't want that in your life, why did you even have a kid? Between you and mom, I can't think of two people who regret their decision to have a child more and do you _know_ what that feels like? To know that neither of your parents wants you?"

"Honey, I've always wanted you!" Dave protested, but Lucy shook her head unbelievingly.

"Up until the other night, I might've believed that, but not now," she said harshly. "When I came to live with you, I thought it would be so much better than living with mom; heck, at least I was fairly sure you wouldn't hit me like she did, but I was wrong, living with you was just as bad as living with her! Yeah, you didn't smack me around like she did, but you're just as self-involved as she is, maybe even more so! You're ALWAYS too busy for me, whether it's a case or working on a book or some woman! And then Henry and JJ came along and suddenly you weren't too busy for _Henry._ No, you made sure his needs were taken care of, didn't you? You made sure he was happy and cared for, but what about me? I don't need a lot of attention, but I want someone to notice I'm alive!" She wiped the tears off of her face and sniffled loudly before continuing. "Why am I never good enough for you? Why can't _I_ be as important to you as your work and your writing? What do Henry and JJ have that I don't? Do you realize that you don't have _any _pictures of me anywhere in the house? You don't even have a picture of me on your desk at work!"

"Lucy, you _are _important to me-" Dave started but the teen shook her head violently.

"_No_ I'm _not_ and do you know how I know that?" She asked, sniffling hard. "Mom's been hitting me for over six years and not ONCE did you ever pick up on it! God dad, you're a trained profiler! I bet when you see victims, you can tell in an instant if they've been abused, but your own daughter? The person you've been living with for three years? NADA!"

Dave felt like his heart was being shredded because she was right, if he had been more involved in her life he _would_ have picked up on the abuse. Sure, profilers had a code and one of the first rules of the code was 'don't profile your family,' but everyone did, it was second nature! So for him not to have recognized the signs of abuse in his own daughter, well, it was beyond a travesty. "Luce-" he said, trying to get a word in, but she wouldn't let him.

"No! I don't want to hear anything you have to say!" She shrieked and then brought her voice back down. "Did you know I used to _pray_ that you would come and rescue me?" She asked, her words barely understandable through her tears. "When I was younger and mom was drunk or in one of her moods, I used to pray to God that you would come and save me from her…from the pain and the anger, and you never did! Yeah, I could've told you about it but mom always threatened me before my infrequent visits with you, so I was always too scared to tell you, but WHY DIDN'T YOU REALIZE what was happening to me?"

"Peanut," Dave said hoarsely, as throat swelled with emotion. "I-" Again, she wouldn't let him speak and he realized that was probably for the best because really, how could he defend himself? It was bad enough to know that she'd been abused and that he'd been a shitty father and profiler not to see it, but to learn she'd actually _prayed _for him to rescue her? He knew he would never be able to forgive himself.

"And then, after I came to live with you, it kept happening and you _still _didn't see it! Sure, it didn't happen as often because I didn't visit her very often, but that doesn't mean it stopped! After awhile, probably after I turned thirteen, I came to the conclusion that you were okay with what mom was doing to me. I really thought it wasn't a big deal! If it had been, surely you would've put a stop to it, but you never did so I thought it was okay! But it _wasn't_ okay! NONE of this is okay!" By this time, Lucy was sobbing and tears had welled up in Dave's eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Peanut," he said as he took a step towards her with outstretched arms.

Lucy backed away from him and shook her head, "Don't touch me!" She cried, "You can't fix this with a hug! You could've fixed it by being understanding when JJ finally told you about all of this, but you weren't, instead you hurt me worse than mom EVER has!" With that, Lucy ran from the sitting room and into the bedroom. She flung herself down onto one of the beds and cried herself to sleep while her dad's heart broke in the other room.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN-**From ilovetvalot and tonnie2001969: The Second Annual Profiler's Choice Awards are up & running at "Chit Chat on Author's Corner" forum. The nomination ballot IS available! Please, please, please READ the rules and category descriptions before casting your noms. Time is running out...the nomination period is half over. The LAST day to submit your ballot is October 15, 2011, 11:59pm EDT. Remember, without you guys there'd be no awards! HAVE A BALL! We're SUPER EXCITED!_


	15. Chapter 15

Anyone But You-Chapter 15

* * *

><p>Lucy awoke the next morning to hear her father talking to someone in the sitting room. At first she wondered why she had to practically pry her eyes open, since they seemed really swollen, and then she remembered crying and screaming at her father the night before. That explained the headache, the dry eyes and the dry mouth and it also explained why she felt a tiny bit better about everything this morning.<p>

As she slowly got up from the luxurious bed, she realized her mind felt lighter than it had been in years. It probably hadn't been the best way to ask him, but she'd always wanted to know why her parents had had a child, seeing as both of them always seemed to be too busy to pay much attention to her. No, that wasn't true, before the divorce they probably could have passed for an all-American family. While her parents had always been busy, they had always been there for her school functions and holidays and, as long as her dad wasn't out on a case, they'd always eaten together as a family. It was after the divorce when things changed; her dad began to juggle two time-consuming careers and her mom…well, it was like something in her mom's brain snapped. She started drinking and laying on the dramatics and when she got like that, that's when she became physical. No, it was the divorce that had changed everything, maybe that's why she had been so desperate to get her parents back together all of these years.

As she walked to the large window in the room, she shook her head as if to clear it; these were WAY too heavy thoughts to be having at, she glanced at the clock and groaned, seven-thirty in the morning. Ugh! Why was she awake so early? Usually she slept until at least nine if she didn't have to be anywhere. Shaking her head again, she remembered that she'd gone to bed at around nine-thirty the night before, so that probably explained her early awakening, that and her dad's voice from the sitting room. She heard another deep voice and wondered who he was talking to. She crept to the door, opened it a crack and listened.

"Well I hope you're able to work things out with her, Dave," she heard Aaron Hotchner say and she realized her dad was talking on the speaker phone. "If she was upset enough to run away, you're going to have a heck of a time reaching her."

"I know that Hotch, and that's why I'm calling; I want to move to consultant status with the BAU."

"What?" Hotch incredulously. He knew his friend was driven as he was, maybe even more, and he couldn't imagine him being anything but a full-time profiler.

Dave nodded, forgetting his friend couldn't see him. "I don't want to go out of town with the team anymore; I want to stay here and consult from Quantico when needed."

"When needed? You're _always _needed, that's part of being on a team! I can't just go into the field with one of our best profilers missing!" Hotch said forcefully.

"And _I_ can't leave my daughter for days on end anymore, nor can I continue working 60 weeks there and then put in another 20-30 hours on my book!"

"Wait, you're telling me you don't want to work at the office at all? What, you just want to show up on cases when you feel like it?"

"I only want to _consult_ on cases when I'm needed," Dave clarified, trying to keep his voice down since he knew Lucy was sleeping in the next room.

"Dave, I know things are rough with your daughter right now, but-"

"Dammit Hotch!" He snarled, louder than he'd intended to. "She thinks she's not important to me! She thinks my work and my books come first! She sees herself somewhere on the bottom on the list of my priorities and I fucking REFUSE to perpetuate that notion!" He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "She said some things to me last night and…she was right about them, Hotch. Not about me not wanting her or loving her, but dammit I _should_ have seen what was happening, I'm a world class profiler for fuck's sake and I missed the signs of abuse in my own daughter for _six years_? What the hell kind of father does that make me?"

"You did your best, Dave; you know we all have blinders on when it comes to our family members. Besides, you did your best to make sure she was happy while you had a professional life," Hotch said, switching from unit chief to best friend.

"My best wasn't good enough, was it? In fact, it was pretty piss poor. Maybe if I had been around more, I would have seen something, but I'll never know and I'll die before I ever put her in that position again."

"Is she talking to you at all?" Hotch asked, knowing how stubborn Lucy could be.

"Other than screaming at me last night? No, not that I blame her, I treated her like shit the other night and I'm a little surprised she hasn't tried to run away while I'm sleeping. Do you know she used to pray for me to save her from her mother's abuse? She actually prayed to god for me to come and rescue her and what happened when she finally got the courage to ask me if she could live with me? I fucking made excuses. My own daughter was living a nightmare and I didn't want to take on the responsibility of a pre-teen girl. What the fuck kind of father does that?"

"One that has a successful and rewarding career-" Hotch started, but Dave interrupted once again.

"She thought I was okay with it," he said, his voice just above a whisper. "She thought since I was a vaunted senior profiler that I had figured out what was going on and was okay with it. My little girl thought I was alright with her mother causing her physical and mental pain…I can't just let that go, Hotch."

"I get it Dave," Hotch said, switching from friend mode back to boss mode, "But I don't know if I can get the higher ups on board with this. With the budget the way it is, they might not want to approve a consultant for the BAU, even at a reduced salary."

"Fine, I'll retire then," Dave told his friend and Lucy, from her vantage point, had to clasp a hand over her mouth to keep from gasping.

"You'll retire? You could just walk away from everything?"

"For Lucy? You're goddamned right I could, and I will if that's what it takes. Somehow I'm going to connect with her, somehow I'm going to prove to her that I can change and I know it's not going to be easy, so yeah, I'll quit if I have to."

"Okay, I'll see if I can work some magic with the budget and I'll have an answer for you when you get back."

"Thanks Aaron, I appreciate it," Dave said.

Lucy listened for another minute, but her dad and Aaron began talking about the latest football game they'd seen, so she quietly shut the door and sat down on her bed in shock. Her dad was really going to _quit his job_ for her? She never, in a million years, thought he would do something like that to make things right with her!

As she processed what she'd overheard, her heart began to melt towards him a little; could it be true? Did he actually want her in his life? Maybe he had been telling the truth the other day when he said he didn't see her as an obligation in his life, maybe he really _did_ want to have a better relationship with her…maybe he really did love her.

She shook her head as she stood up again, her emotions a jumble; while a part of her was touched at what her dad was doing for her, another part was still angry and hurt and she couldn't forgive and forget so easily.

She took a deep breath as she moved to the door and opened it. She stepped out into the sitting room and found her dad reading the morning paper.

"Morning honey," he said gently. For the past few days he'd been acting like nothing was wrong but today…well, after the previous night's meltdown, he knew he needed to walk on eggshells. "You're up early."

Lucy nodded, "Couldn't sleep."

"Okay," he said, closing his newspaper. "What's on the agenda for today?" He braced himself for another litany of tourist spots and he was surprised when she pondered the question.

"What would you like to do?" She asked softly. She was already getting tired of the city and, while it had been fun to punish her father by picking places she knew he hated, it was getting old. Besides, he was really trying and, after hearing his conversation with Aaron, she realized she had to try too.

Dave was shocked speechless by her reaction; was she actually softening up a little? Did her meltdown the previous night work at expelling some of her anger? Realizing she was waiting for an answer, he said, "I was actually thinking that we should visit my dad and sister for a few days. We could rent a car and drive to Commack."

Lucy thought about it for a minute and nodded, "I'm going to take a shower and then I'll pack so can be out of here by checkout time."

"I'll order breakfast from room service so it will be here by the time you're done in the bathroom."

The teen nodded and headed for the bathroom. As she put her hand on the doorknob, she turned and said quietly, "I don't hate you."

Dave looked up from the menu, wondering if he'd misheard. "What?"

"The other day you said, 'I know you hate me,' but I don't. I'm angry and confused and you hurt my feelings pretty badly, but I don't hate you." With that she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door firmly behind her, so she missed seeing the tears that had sprung to her father's eyes.

xxxxxxxxxx

Three hours later they were cruising down the turnpike, headed for Dave's childhood home. While his father had moved into a retirement community, his sister Janet had bought the family homestead for her family and when he'd called her, she'd had been happy to hear from him and was more than willing to put the two of them up for the rest of the week, although she had admonished him for his infrequent visits.

They had long since moved out of range from the one radio station they both could agree on and the silence in the car was deafening. Dave knew he had to clear some things up with her before they got to Commack, so he took a deep breath and spoke.

"Can you grab my phone, honey?" He asked. Lucy jumped when she heard his voice as she'd nearly been asleep before he spoke. Nodding, she picked up his iPhone from the console of the rented sedan and held it out to him.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Go to the main menu and then click on the pictures icon." He watched as she followed his directions and he noticed when a puzzled look came over her features. "That's a little program Garcia wrote for me," he told her when she saw that his picture folder was password protected. "The PIN Is 0425."

"My birthday," she said softly as she keyed in the code. The folder opened and she was suddenly staring at a recent picture of herself. She scrolled through the folder and found that all of the pictures were of her. They were either ones he had taken with his cell phone, or else they were ones she'd saved to the family computer in the living room and there was over a hundred of them. As she scrolled though all of them, he explained.

"The reason there aren't any pictures of you on the walls at home, or on my desk at work is because I never want someone dangerous seeing that I have a daughter. I never want someone using you in order to get to me. It's a safety precaution, honey, that's why I had Garcia password protect these pictures."

"Oh," she said faintly as she stared at the pictures on his phone. He let her think about that for a few minutes before opening his mouth again.

"Have you ever heard the story about the night you were born?"

"Mom told me about it a couple of times," she said, "But she usually focused on how much pain my apparently large Rossi head caused her as she squeezed it out of her." She wore a soft smile and Dave was encouraged to tell the story.

"Well, I had just gotten back into town less than four hours beforehand and I hadn't slept in a few days, so I'd pretty much passed out on our bed. An hour after my head hit the pillow, I heard your mother screaming from the bathroom. Let me tell you Peanut, when a pregnant woman screams 'I think the baby's coming,' it tends to put the fear of God into your heart. Of course your mother was nowhere near ready to deliver, but she'd had a sharp contraction and had reacted to it. Even back then, your mother was a bit of a…" He searched for the right words and was surprised when Lucy supplied them for him.

"A drama queen?" She asked.

"Drama queen, that's perfect," Dave agreed and then continued the story. "So I got her and her three bags into the car and we sped off for the hospital. With each contraction, your mother wanted me to pull off the road to deliver you, but I knew you would have a much better chance in life if you were delivered in a nice clean hospital by people who knew what they were doing, so I just floored it and kept driving."

Lucy smiled as she pictured that and Dave was encouraged. "We arrived in record time and got her settled into a nice maternity room and three hours later, she was pushing you into the world. I gotta tell you, Luce, as soon as I heard your cry in that delivery room, I knew I was a goner. While they were cleaning your mom up, I got to hold you and as I looked into your pretty blue eyes, I knew right then and there that my life was finally complete and I knew I would move heaven and earth to keep you safe and happy." He looked over and saw she was mulling over the story. "And I blew it…I blew it big time. Lucy, I love you so much and please believe me, if I had known what your mother was doing to you, I _would _have rescued you! I am so sorry that I've made you feel unwelcome over the years and I promise that's something that's going to change." As he glanced at her again, he could see her wiping a tear off of her face, so he remained quiet.

A few minutes later, Lucy finally spoke. "I heard the conversation you had with Aaron this morning," she said softly.

"Oh?"

The teen nodded, "You don't have to do that, you don't have to give up your job for me."

"Yes I do," Dave said emphatically. "I really _do _want a better relationship with you Luce, and I'll do whatever it takes to get it. The Bureau can get by without me and I can easily get by without it. You are my first priority and everything else can go to hell for all I care."

Lucy was wide-eyed and she didn't know what to say, so she chose to remain quiet; she still couldn't believe her dad was willing to give up so much for her.

As they continued on to Commack, the car was silent once again, but this time the silence wasn't as oppressive and Dave felt like maybe they had turned a corner.


	16. Chapter 16

Anyone But You-Chapter 16

* * *

><p>Lucy smiled as her dad pulled the rented car up to her aunt's house. While she didn't see her Aunt Janet much during the year, the woman was one of her favorite people on the planet. Before her parents had divorced, they'd come here for many Christmases and Thanksgivings and even after the split, when she'd spent one holiday with one parent and then switched for the next holiday; her aunt still remained as a confidante for her. Sure, she didn't talk to her that often anymore, but she was the type of person where even when they hadn't spoken in months, they could pick up right where they'd left off.<p>

As Dave pulled into the driveway, the front door opened and he saw his older sister step out of the house. While she was wearing a large smile, he knew it was for Lucy and not him. No, if she'd heard about how he'd reacted to Lucy and what he'd said to her, he was a dead man and he was fairly certain she knew everything; Jimmy Davison was more of a gossip than the little old ladies in his parish and Dave would've damn near bet his soul on the fact that Janet was the second person Jimmy had called, after his father of course.

The car had barely come to a complete stop before Lucy jumped out and ran up to the porch. "Aunt Janet!" She exclaimed as she threw her arms around the woman's waist. Janet, who was aware of her niece's injuries, gently returned the hug.

"God Lucy, I swear you get prettier every time I see you! Keep it up and your dad will have to keep the boys away with a hose!"

Dave, who was struggling with the bags, winced at that idea. Once she'd reached puberty, he'd strictly enforced a 'no dating until you're sixteen rule' and thank God he still had seven more months before he had to think about it.

"Thanks Aunt Janet, you look pretty good yourself; I love your haircut."

Dave came up behind his daughter, holding both of their bags and waited for the women to move so he could set them down inside of the house. Unfortunately, they began to chat about hairstyles and color and he finally had to interrupt.

"Hey, don't I get a hug?" He asked and got his older sister's infamous glare in return.

"That depends," she asked icily. "Are you still being an asshole?"

Lucy couldn't hold back a snort of laughter when she heard her aunt's reaction and Janet shot a grin at her.

"I don't think I'm being an asshole, as you so nicely put it," he replied stiffly.

"What do you think Lucy?" Janet asked, still shooting dirty looks at her brother.

The teen scrunched her face up in thought and studied her dad for a minute. "He's really tying, Aunt Janet and he's been okay during this trip."

"Thanks Luce," Dave said and his daughter flashed him a small grin. Her grin grew when her aunt embraced her dad and said ominously, "I have a bone to pick with you."

He sighed as he stepped into the house, "I know you do, but can it wait until I put our bags down?"

"Of course; my anger will keep," she told him. "I have you up in the guest room and Lucy down in the den. I would put each of you in a bedroom but when my sons left for college, they didn't bother cleaning their bedrooms and, as a result, they are not fit for human habitation." Janet Rossi had two boys, twins, and they were both freshmen in college. One was at NYU and the other was at UCLA.

Dave shook his head, "I'll take the den and she can have the guest room."

"It's fine dad, I like it down here," Lucy told him. In the den she had a large television, a fireplace and easy access to the kitchen. Upstairs in the guest room she would have nothing. "I promise I won't run away in the night."

That was the very thing Dave had been worried about but, as he studied her face, he could see she was telling the truth so he relented. "Fine," he said setting her bag down in the den.

The teen was about to say something else, when she heard a dog barking. "Ooooh, where's Buster?" She asked excitedly.

"Out in the back yard," Janet told her. "I made the mistake of mentioning your name earlier and he went nuts. I sent him out there so he could run off some of that energy." Buster was Janet's large, dopey golden retriever and he and Lucy had bonded two summers ago when Lucy had spent a month with her aunt and uncle. As a result, any time she was at the house, Buster became her shadow.

"Oh, that reminds me, can I use your phone, dad?" She asked. "I have to call the shelter and let them know I won't be in tomorrow."

"What shelter?" Dave asked as he tossed her his cell phone.

"I volunteer at the D Street animal shelter every Wednesday night," she told him. "I help with the dogs."

Dave was both amazed and ashamed; he had no idea she did that every week. "How long have you been volunteering there?"

"About six months. I have to apply to colleges soon and since my grades aren't stellar, Father Jimmy thought some volunteer work would help my chances." With that, she dialed a number by heart and waited while it rang. While she was on the phone, Janet pulled her brother out of the room and into the kitchen.

"Are you trying to win the biggest asshole on the planet award?" She asked and Dave could hear the fury in her voice as he sat across from her at the kitchen table.

"Listen Jan, I know I screwed up, but-"

"No Dave, you didn't 'screw up;' what you said and did the other night will most likely stay with your daughter for the rest of her life!"

"I _know_," he said, "And I'm going to make it up to her." He spent the next five minutes filling her in on what had gone on between them the past few days and her face finally softened when he told her he would retire if necessary.

"I should kick your ass," she finally said, "But I guess it's not _entirely _your fault; you never really learned how to be an involved and attentive father. I mean, dad was your model for fatherhood and God knows that man was an ungodly workaholic."

"I remember," Dave said, thinking back to his childhood.

"That doesn't mean you're off the hook," Janet told him. "I'd better see this 'new and improved' David Rossi a LOT over the next few days, and you'd better learn what makes your daughter tick, otherwise I'll find mom's old wooden spoon. Capisce?"

The thought of that wooden spoon made Dave's blood run cold and he readily agreed. Janet was about to say something else, but Lucy joined them in the kitchen.

"Thanks," she said as gave her dad his phone back. "Can I go out and see Buster?" She asked her aunt.

"Please," she said. "And see if you can get him to stop digging so many holes! I damn near broke my neck out there the other day."

"'Kay Aunt Janet," she said as she slid the patio door open. She stepped out and closed it behind her and a few seconds later, the two adults heard her squeal, "Buster!"

Janet and Dave listened to Lucy's laughter and Buster's joyful barking for a few minutes before Janet sighed, "So you're going to kill her, right?" She hadn't verbalized who she was talking about, but Dave knew she was referring to his ex-wife.

"Jan," he started, but she was on a roll.

"Because if you don't, I will! The nerve of that two-timing little bitch! How _dare_ she put her hands on my niece in anger! When I get a hold of her, all that will remain is her booze and her silicone tits!"

"Jan, I know you're pissed and so am I, but this has to be done right," Dave told her. As much as he wanted to join his sister in the dismemberment of his wife, he had to consider his daughter and her feelings toward her mother. It was a clusterfuck and he needed to go after Angela in court, not in some dark alley.

"I gotcha Dave," Janet said giving him a knowing wink and a nod, "This needs to be done cleanly, with no traces to us."

"That's not what I meant," he said as a small smile pulled at his lips.

"Well that's what _I_ meant," she said huffily. "And I'm not even going to bother with the Italians; no, Robert knows some guys in Iraq that would kill their own mothers if the price was right. Trust me Dave, they are some crazy motherfuckers and it's just what that bitch of an ex-wife of yours deserves!" Dave could almost see the fire shooting from her eyes by the end of her rant and it would have frightened him but he remembered she was on his side and was trying to look out for his daughter. He made a mental note to never introduce her to Penelope Garcia because with Jan's attitude and Garcia's computer skills, he had no doubt they could bring about the apocalypse.

"I have to take Lucy into account with this, sis," he said nervously, wondering if she would turn on him next. "Even though Angela has hurt her over the years, Lucy still loves her."

"You're not going to let her get away with it, are you?" Janet shouted, the volume of her voice nearly rattling the windows.

"Hell no! But I have to do it legally and through the court system and by the time I'm through Lucy may very well hate me again, but I have to do something to protect her. I can't just let Angela get away with what she's done and I'm going to make DAMN sure that she'll never be allowed to see Lucy again."

Janet considered his words for a moment and finally nodded. "Okay, you're right, but if the whole 'court thing' doesn't work, can we move to my plan?"

Dave smiled and nodded, "We'll label the 'Crazy Iraqi' plan as plan B." Janet's husband Robert was an overseas contractor and he was currently working on a re-building project in Iraq and he knew the man probably _did _know some people who could take care of his ex-wife if need be.

Janet smiled and stood up, "Why don't you go join your daughter and my insane dog? Dinner won't be ready for a few hours, so maybe the three of you could go for a long walk."

"Sounds good, Jan," Dave said as he got up from his chair. "Who's all coming tonight?"

"No one, it'll just be the three of us, but dad and Stephen are coming tomorrow night."

"How is our little brother?" Stephen was the youngest of the three Rossi children and he'd always been the wild child. Once he'd graduated from college, he'd travelled around the country doing odd jobs here and there before he'd finally started an internet business. He'd started it during the height of the internet boom in the 1990's and it had been one of the few to survive the bust at the end of the decade. As a result, he had a lot of money and few responsibilities, so he usually wandered the world in search of adventure.

"About the same," Janet said, rolling her eyes. "Comes and goes whenever he pleases and doesn't give much thought to anyone else. Hmmm, sounds familiar."

Dave ignored her last comment and headed for the patio door. Before he stepped out, he watched his daughter for a moment and his heart swelled when he saw how happy she looked. He silently vowed to make that a more frequent occurrence in her life.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN-**From ilovetvalot and tonnie2001969: The Second Annual Profiler's Choice Awards are up & running at "Chit Chat on Author's Corner" forum. The nomination ballot IS available! Please, please, please READ the rules and category descriptions before casting your noms. Time is running out...the nomination period is half over. The LAST day to submit your ballot is October 15, 2011, 11:59pm EDT. Remember, without you guys there'd be no awards! HAVE A BALL! We're SUPER EXCITED!_


	17. Chapter 17

Anyone But You-Chapter 17

**~Thanks for all of the reviews for this story, they make my day! I promise we'll get back to DC and JJ and Henry in a few chapters.**

* * *

><p>The next morning, Janet was in the kitchen fixing breakfast when she heard the sounds of life coming from the den. Since Dave was up in his room talking on his cell phone, she knew it was the perfect time to talk to her niece. Crossing the kitchen, she made her way down the short hallway and knocked on the door.<p>

"Come in," Lucy called out from her nest on the couch. While sleeping on the sofa wasn't the ideal situation, her aunt's sofa was the comfiest in the world and she'd had an 80 pound heating pad with her, in the form of a dog.

Janet opened the door and found her niece and her dog sprawled out on the couch. She smiled and said, "I'd wondered where he'd gone to," she said, looking at Buster. "Go on, boy, the back door is open." While the black lab loved his fifteen year old friend, he hadn't answered the call of nature in nearly ten hours and his sense of urgency trumped everything, so he tore out of the room like someone had set his tail on fire.

Janet came further into the room, shut the door and then joined her niece on the couch. "How are you doing, Sweetie?" She asked.

"I'm okay," she said with a yawn and a stretch. She couldn't help wincing and her aunt caught it.

"Will you show me your bruises, Lucy? I need to make sure you're not really hurt," she said. 'God help your mother if you are,' she finished in her mind.

"I don't know, Aunt Janet," Lucy said hesitantly. It wasn't that she was embarrassed to show her aunt her body, God knows the woman had helped her try on things before at various stores, it's just that…well, she didn't want anyone to see the marks her mother had left, she was ashamed of them.

"Sweetheart, your father is about two seconds away from dragging you into town to see a doctor because he's worried about you. Do you really want that?"

She shook her head as she stood up; the absolute _last _thing she wanted was to go to the local ER. Once she was on her feet, she peeled off her t-shirt and shorts so all she had on was her bra and panties. She shook her head slightly as she heard her aunt suck air in through her teeth. "Your mother did all of this to you?" She asked as she got to her feet and Lucy could hear the barely concealed anger behind the words.

"Yeah, but it's really not a big deal," she told her aunt, who had stood up behind her to get a good look at the marks.

"Oh Lucy," she said, her voice full of sympathy, "It _is _a big deal; no one _ever _has the right to hurt you, whether it's your mom or a future boyfriend or anyone else. If this ever happens to you again, please promise me you'll tell someone about it."

"I promise," the teen said softly. "I would've told you about what mom was doing but…I don't know, I guess I didn't know how. She always threatened that if I told anyone, they wouldn't believe me and she would make it even worse and…I guess I was scared."

Janet was glad she was standing behind her niece because she knew the look on her face was murderous. "I know you were confused, but you know you can talk to me about _anything_, right?"

"I know," she said softly.

"Good," her aunt said firmly. "Now about these bruises, are you sure you don't want to see a doctor? Some of them look pretty bad." Actually, all of them looked pretty fucking bad and it was all Janet could do to keep from getting in her car and paying Lucy's worthless mother a visit.

"I'm fine, really, it doesn't hurt," Lucy said and her aunt, who was now facing her, simply raised an eyebrow in response. "Okay, it hurts, but not too badly. Please Aunt Janet, I hate going to the doctor!"

"Well okay," she said, "but if they don't look any better tomorrow, you're going to get them looked at professionally. Deal?"

Lucy thought for a second and then nodded, "Deal," she said as she reached for her duffel bag. She began to get dressed as Janet, who was still in the room, sat back down on the sofa.

"So how are you really doing?" She asked.

Lucy pulled a long sleeved t-shirt over her head and shrugged, "I'm fine."

Her aunt gave her a piercing look that was so similar to her father's, it was scary. "Lucy, you lie to your teachers, to your boyfriends, even your dad but you do _not_ lie to your favorite aunt," she said sternly.

A small smile appeared on the teen's face, she should have known better than to dodge a question from the formidable woman. "Sorry," she said and then sighed. "What dad said the other night really sucked, but he's trying to make up for it so I'm feeling a bit better towards him. Also, I don't know, I feel a lot better now that I've told him how I feel; I'd been holding back my anger and frustration with him for so long and now that I've told him, I feel lighter…happier, although that could also be because of all of the time he's spending with me, but…" she trailed off as she pulled on her jeans.

"But what?"

"I'll feel bad if he really does retire because of me. I know he loves working at the BAU; hell, he helped start the department and I don't want him to give it up."

"Luce, your father wouldn't have put that out there as an option if he wasn't serious about it. Yeah, he loves his job, but I know for a fact that he loves you more."

"Really?" The teen asked in a whisper.

"Really," her aunt said firmly as she stood up. "I'm going to finish making breakfast while you do your hair and stuff, okay?"

"Okay, thanks Aunt Janet."

"Any time, Lucy," she said as she shut the door behind her. As she made her way into the kitchen, she mentally promised to be more of a presence in her niece's life. Sure, they saw each other on the occasional holiday, and they called and emailed each other, but she knew the girl would need someone's help getting through the next few months and now that her sons were in college, she had the time to help her. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't see her brother standing in the kitchen and she jumped when she heard his voice.

"Hey Jan, got a minute?" He asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.

"Sure," she said as she sat down across from him.

"How's she doing?" He asked, motioning towards the den.

"I don't think there's much to worry about with her injuries; I got a good look at them and they don't look too bad."

He nodded, "How's she doing with everything else?"

"She's confused, but she's coming around," she told him. "And that's all I'm going to say on the topic. If you want to find out more, you'll have to talk to her yourself."

"Fair enough," Dave said. "I actually have to talk to _you_ right now. Would you be willing to become Lucy's guardian if something were to ever happen to me? Right now she would go to Angela full time and I obviously can't have that happen."

"Wouldn't you rather she goes to one of your friends?" Janet asked, flattered that he was considering her for the role. "I'm not a spring chicken, Dave, I'm almost 60 and-"

"And Lucy loves you and is comfortable with you and she's comfortable at your house," he told her. "The only friend of mine who really knows her is Jimmy and I can't really imagine her living at the rectory with him if I died, could you?"

Janet snorted, "No, I really can't. Of course I'll take her if something would ever happen to you and I would make sure Angela couldn't go after her or any inheritance of hers."

Dave gave a sigh of relief, "Thanks Jan, this is a load off of my mind. I'm having my attorney messenger the paperwork here tomorrow so you can sign it. I want this taken care of as soon as possible."

Janet nodded and was about to ask if he'd gotten the ball rolling to take legal action against his ex-wife, but she heard the door to the den open and she knew her niece would be joining them, so she kept quiet.

"Morning dad," Lucy said as she entered the kitchen. "Coffee! Thank god," she moaned as she poured herself a mug full. Her father and aunt watched as she added two spoonfuls of sugar and took a large drink.

"When the hell did you start drinking coffee?" Dave asked, horrified by the way she enjoyed it so much.

"Last year; there's a Starbucks right next to my Metro stop and I sometimes grab a drink there before school. God, I've missed my venti vanilla latte's with an extra shot of espresso!"

"And you're going to keep missing it," Dave said as he took the cup of coffee away from her. "You are _much _too young to be drinking coffee!"

"What the heck? You can't do that, I need my coffee!" She argued, trying to snatch it back from him, but he moved it out of her reach.

"Yes I can; you wanted a more involved father and this is me being involved. I'm sure your aunt will find you a nice cup of orange juice or milk, but you are NOT having coffee," he said firmly, already wondering what the last year of caffeine had done to her health.

"Aunt Janet," Lucy whined, turning towards her only ally but the woman shook her head.

"Sorry Luce, I can't go against your dad. How about some grape juice instead?"

"Fine," the teen grumbled, but she wasn't really mad; no, as weird as it was, it was nice having her dad actually acting like a dad for once.

xxxxxxxxxx

Later that afternoon, Dave and Lucy arrived back at Janet's to find Dave's father already there.

"Grandpa!" Lucy exclaimed as she gave the older man a hug.

"How's my favorite granddaughter?" He asked as he sat back down in the easy chair.

"Grandpa, I'm your _only _granddaughter!" She said with a giggle.

"Hey dad," Dave greeted as he sat down on the sofa. Lucy sat down next to him and for the next couple of minutes she and her grandfather discussed school, her play and other things.

Gio Rossi enjoyed talking to his granddaughter, who he never saw enough of, but finally he said, "Why don't you go help your aunt with dinner, honey? I need to talk to your dad for a minute."

Lucy nodded, stood up and left the room. Once she was in the kitchen, her aunt put her to work chopping up vegetables for the dinner salad.

"So how was your day?" Janet asked her after they had worked in silence for a few minutes.

Lucy thought for a minute, "It was actually really fun," she said. "Dad took me-" she was interrupted by loud voices from the living room.

"Look Dad," Dave said in a raised voice. "There's only so much flak I'm going to take from you about my parenting skills. Yeah, we all know I'm not the world's greatest father, but where did I learn it from, huh?" He asked, barely reigning in his anger and frustration.

"What are you trying to say, David?" His father asked, equally as loud. "Are you saying I was a bad father?"

"No, I'm saying _you_ never spent any time with us kids while we were growing up! You left for the bakery before we woke up in the morning and half of the time you got home after we went to bed! It was always a huge deal when you actually made it home in time to eat dinner with us, so it's no wonder I turned out to be such a shitty father! The only _good _parent in this family is Janet and that's because she had mom as a role model!"

"Do _not_ speak to me in that tone of voice," his father said forcefully. "I tried my best with you kids, but back then a man was supposed to work his fingers to the bone to provide for his family! I was no different from any other father!"

"I know that, but did you ever wonder what it did to us kids? You and I _never_ went anywhere together, unless I was in trouble, and I can count the number of family outings we took on one hand. Jesus dad, you didn't even make it to my high school graduation and you sure as _hell_ couldn't be bothered to take a few days off to see me graduate from college. No, all you cared about was that goddamned bakery and now you wonder how _I_ grew up to be such a workaholic? I learned from the master!"

Gio, who had a short temper, glared at his son and said, "But if any of you had ever been in serious trouble, I would've known about it! I guarantee it wouldn't have taken me SIX years to learn that one of you was being abused!"

Dave clenched his jaw shut and headed for the front door; he knew that if he stayed in that room, he would say something he would seriously regret and he didn't want to do that, so he left, slamming the door behind him.

In the kitchen, Lucy had been listening to everything with wide eyes. "Is that true?" She asked her aunt softly. "Was grandpa really that much of a jerk to you guys?"

Janet nodded, "I love my father, but Dave's right, he wasn't there for us; his bakery was always the most important thing to him and his family came second. It wasn't until our mother died and he retired that he really started to get to know us."

Lucy silently chopped the vegetables as she thought about this new piece of information; it didn't totally excuse her father's absence or asshole behavior towards her the previous weekend, but it gave her some insight as to why he was the way he was.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dinner that night was entertaining. Stephen arrived just before they sat down and it was always interesting when he joined the mix. He was younger than Janet by twelve years and younger than Dave by seven years and he was definitely the wild child of the family. After he greeted his family, he started telling stories of some of the places he'd been to. After a wildly inappropriate story about his adventures in Bangkok, Janet deftly steered the conversation towards her niece.

"So tell us Lucy, what did you and my brother do all day?"

Lucy thought for a minute, "Well, since it was so nice out, we decided to walk around town. Dad showed me where he went to high school, where he got his first job and where the family used to go on picnics. Then he we went to Lazy Jane's café and got some of the best apple pie I've ever had!" She told them as she smiled at her dad.

"Jane's pies are to die for," Janet agreed, already planning on getting a slice the next day.

"If you really wanted to see where David spent most of his time as a teen, you should have gone to the police station," Gio grumbled as Janet and Stephen tried to hold back twin snorts of laughter.

"Why is that? Were you in a junior explorers club or something?" She asked her dad, who was glaring at his siblings.

"Not exactly," he said and then tried to change the subject. "So Jan, is this mom's recipe? Because it-"

"Not exactly, my ass," Gio said and then looked at his granddaughter. "Your dad spent many a night in that jail and when he wasn't there as a guest, he was there working off his debt to society; I don't think a month went by when David wasn't in trouble with the law."

"WHAT?" Lucy exclaimed, looking at her father whose face had turned a blazing red. "_You_ were a troublemaker?" She asked with an astonished grin.

"I might have done a few things in my youth that I'm not proud of," he mumbled, not making eye contact with her.

"A few things?" Janet asked, laughing. Dave shot her a look and it made her laugh even harder. "Oh, come on Dave, dad opened this particular can of worms, so don't get mad at me."

"What did he do?" Lucy asked, hoping they would tell her.

"What didn't he do?" Stephen asked. "He was my hero growing up! He was the master at TPing houses. Do you remember that one you TP'd and then it rained and before they could get the wet toilet paper down from the trees, the temperature dropped and it froze like that? They had to look at your handiwork all winter long!"

"You TP'd houses? When _I_ did that, you grounded me for a week!"

"I didn't get away with it scot free," her dad defended himself. "Mom had a field day with that one, along with the cops."

"And then there was your proclivity to drag race down main street at all hours of the night with your hoodlum friends," Gio said. "I believe that cost you more than a few nights in jail and many hours of community service."

"Oh. My. GOD! Drag racing? This is too good!" Lucy said through her nearly uncontrollable laughter.

"Don't forget all of the illegal fireworks you always seemed to get your hands on," His sister reminded him.

"Jesus Jan, not you too! I'm trying to teach my daughter that these things are wrong, not cool!"

Janet ignored him and spoke to her niece, "Somehow your dad had an endless supply of fireworks, and I'm not talking about sparklers, I'm talking things that went boom! I'm betting Ray Finnegan was your supplier, right?"

"I will neither confirm nor deny that accusation," Dave said, sounding like he was on the witness stand.

"I can't believe you were a hell raiser," Lucy said. "At least I know I came by it honestly."

Dave wanted to be pissed at his family, but he saw genuine happiness on his daughter's face and he knew his humiliation was for a good cause, so he didn't put a stop to it, even after Lucy asked, "So what other kinds of things did my dad do?"


	18. Chapter 18

Anyone But You-Chapter 18

* * *

><p>The next day dawned cold and rainy and Lucy knew it would be an 'indoors' kind of day. As she moved from the den to the kitchen, she let Buster out the back door and even the dog seemed to hesitate at going out into the crappy weather. As she stepped into the kitchen, she was surprised to find it empty, but was happy to see that the coffee pot was full.<p>

She quickly grabbed a mug, filled it with the precious brew, added some sugar and lifted it to her mouth. Just as the caffeinated elixir was about to hit her lips, a stern voice from the doorway said, "Freeze!"

Lucy, who really wanted to take a huge gulp of the liquid, followed the order and froze. "Put the mug on the counter and step away from it, Luce," her father said, sounding very much like SSA Rossi. With a sigh, she followed his directions; damn, she was so close!

"But daaaaaaad," she whined, "I need it! I've gotten used to a caffeine jolt in the morning."

"Too bad," he said as entered the kitchen. "You are much too young to be drinking coffee on a regular basis."

"Didn't you start drinking coffee when you were about her age, Dave?" Stephen said as he came in looking for food. While he'd returned to his fancy hotel room the previous night, he'd returned once Janet had issued an invitation for a family breakfast. Their father had declined the breakfast offer, so it was just his children and grandchild meeting for the meal.

"Thanks Stephen," Dave said tightly, "I can't tell you how much your help is appreciated."

"Yeah, thanks Uncle Stephen," Lucy said smugly. "So can I have my coffee back?"

"Nope," he said, picking it up from the counter. "This is a case of 'do as I say, not as I do.' I'm sure Janet will back me up on this."

Janet, who had just entered the room but had heard the discussion from her bedroom, looked dismayed. "How in the hell did _I_ get dragged into this?"

"Seriously Dave, it's just coffee, give the kid her caffeine back," Stephen told him with a wink at his niece.

"Isn't there a party in Tahiti that's calling your name, little brother?" Dave asked through clenched teeth.

"There's _always _a party in Tahiti, but I can catch the next one," his younger brother replied with a grin.

Dave thought for a second and finally said, "Three. Three coffee mornings per week and, when I say coffee, I mean coffee, not some crazy, sugar laden drink with four shots of espresso."

Lucy thought for a minute, "How about five? That way I can have my caffeine before school and then I can give it a rest on the weekend."

Dave shook his head, "This is non-negotiable; three."

"How about four?" Lucy asked, still trying to get her coffee intake increased.

"How about two?" Her dad shot back.

"No, no, three is fine," she quickly agreed as her aunt and uncle looked on in amusement. After the 'great coffee debate,' the four of them sat down and ate a light breakfast and talked about what they would do for the rest of the day. After that, Lucy and Dave cleaned up while Stephen checked his email and Janet talked to her overseas husband.

"Hey dad, I was thinking," Lucy started.

"Uh oh, that's always dangerous," Dave said with a grin; his smile faded when his daughter turned and looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Oops, sorry, is it too soon to joke around with you?" Things had been getting much better between them and the last thing he wanted to do was piss her off again.

Lucy screwed up her face in thought, "No, it's not too soon," she said with a wry grin, "I just wasn't expecting it." Dave sighed in relief. "_Anyway_, I was wondering if you would maybe wanna come with me to the animal shelter sometime," she said almost shyly. "Um, you could see what I do with the dogs and you could help me bathe them…but I'll understand if you don't want to-"

"I would love to come with you Luce; how about next week?" Dave asked and Lucy, who had been staring into the sink full of dishes, looked up with a surprised smile. "Really?"

"Definitely," Dave said as he felt her smile tug on his heartstrings; he finally felt like things were really getting better between the two of them. Sure, it would take more than a trip to visit his family and him tagging along with her to her volunteer work, but it was a good start.

xxxxxxxxxx

Since the day was so rainy and cold, the four of them decided to stay indoors for the day. Thankfully, while Janet didn't have the latest gaming consoles, she did have a bookcase full of board games and they played those for most of the afternoon. Both Stephen and Dave were stunned when Janet and Lucy kicked their asses at Scrabble and the women were a bit disturbed at how ruthless Dave and Stephen were when they played Monopoly. After a game of Battleship that nearly got violent between the three siblings, Janet finally called a halt to the games. Since, by that point, it was nearly dinnertime, they decided to have Chinese food delivered to the house so none of them would have to go out in the bad weather. Once they decided on the dishes to order, Janet went to let the dog out, while Lucy changed into her pajamas, since they were the warmest articles of clothing she had with her.

Once they were alone in the living room, Dave turned to his brother and said, "You're the only one who hasn't reamed me a new one over what I said to Lucy; aren't you furious with me like the rest of them are?"

"Shit Dave, how can I be mad at you? At least you're trying with your kid…hell, at least you were brave enough to even _have _a kid! How am I, your flighty younger brother, someone with no real responsibilities, supposed to judge your parenting skills?" He asked. "Besides, it's not like you had a great role model; hell, I barely have any childhood memories that include dad and the ones I do have usually involve one or more of us in serious trouble."

"You're right," Dave said, searching his own recollections for any memories of his father that _didn't _involve the cops, or the nuns at school, or his distraught mother and he came up empty.

"And hell, at least you're trying now! You might have been an asshole when you first learned about everything, but you're a Rossi and we _all _tend to react first and think about things later; it's in our genes!"

"I _don't_ want to be like dad," Dave said softly, "I don't want my daughter to associate me with feelings of fear and dread like we do dad; God knows she'll have enough of that with her mother…that's why I'm trying so hard to connect with her."

"It probably also doesn't hurt that she holds your entire future in the palm of her hand," Stephen said with a sly smile. "Can you imagine if the press ever got wind of this? David Rossi, world class profiler and best-selling author misses signs of abuse in his daughter? What would _that_ do to your reputation? Not to mention the fact that this JJ woman won't see you until you fix things with her. Face it bro, your daughter has you by the short and curlies and the only way you'll ever get the upper hand is by getting on better terms with her."

Even though he was technically on his side, Stephen had managed to get under Dave's skin with his insinuations about why he was trying to fix things with Lucy and he was about to snap at him when he heard a gasp.

Lucy, who had overheard Stephen's part of the conversation, stood in the entryway of the living room and she looked absolutely shattered. "Is that why you're spending so much time with me? To save your reputation? To save your job? To save your relationship with JJ?" She asked in a strangled voice. "God, I've been such an idiot! Here I thought you were having as much fun as I've been having, that you've been happy spending time with me, but I should've known better!" By the end of her tirade, tears were streaming down her face and she looked as though her heart had been ripped in half.

"Luce," Dave started, "That's not-"

"Whatever dad!" She yelled. "If that's all you're worried about, fine! I won't breathe a word about this to anyone; you can _keep_ your precious reputation!" With that, she spun around and ran out of the room, nearly knocking her aunt over in the process. A moment later, everyone heard the door to the den slam loudly.

"Dammit Stephen!" Dave bellowed as he got to his feet; he saw all of his and Lucy's good times over the past week slowly wash down the drain.

"What happened?" Janet asked as she took off her raincoat.

"Our little brother was being a dumbass again!" Dave said loudly, "And he may have managed to undo everything I've done with Lucy this week.

"Jesus Dave, I'm sorry, I was just joking around!" Janet walked over to Stephen and smacked him upside the head.

"What did you do now?" She hissed and her youngest brother filled her in while Dave went to the den.

He knocked on the closed door, "Lucy, can I come in?"

"No!" She yelled. "Leave me alone."

"That's not going to happen Luce, we need to talk. Can I please come in?" There was silence and then, "Fine, you can come in."

Dave opened the door and found his daughter sitting in the middle of the sofa. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and she was resting her head on them. Every once in a while, she wiped her face on her knees.

"I thought you'd changed," she said in a pathetic voice before he could explain anything. "I thought you wanted to get to know me, to be a real dad to me but you just wanted me to keep my mouth shut, you were just looking out for your precious career."

"That's NOT true, Lucy! I have enjoyed these last couple of days with you more than you can possibly imagine and I DO want to be a real dad to you! You walked in on the tail end of my brother being an idiot. He was being sarcastic!"

"How am I supposed to believe that? How can I believe that you'll just up and retire from the FBI if you have to? You love your work more than anything else on the planet, so how am I supposed to believe that you'll just walk away from it?"

"Because I will! Honey, I've done many things in my life that I'm not proud of; I've been a shitty and inattentive father, I've put other things above you, but I have NEVER lied to you! I swear to God, I've been doing all of these things with you this week because I _want _to, not because I _have _to!"

Lucy considered his words for a moment, "Really?"

Dave nodded, "Really."

"Okay," the teen said as she let out a long breath. "I'm sorry I didn't' believe you."

"It's okay Luce, I get it," he told her as he held a hand out to her. She looked at it for a second before she took it.

Dave helped her to her feet. "Can I give you a hug without you killing me?"

Lucy pretended to think about it for a second and then nodded. Dave gently embraced her, being mindful of her bruises, and they stayed that way for a minute, until the doorbell rang.

"Come on," Lucy said. "I'm starved!"

Dave agreed to her suggestion and the two of them headed out of the den. Dave couldn't help but smile' he'd managed to regain some of his daughter's trust and love.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN-**From ilovetvalot and tonnie2001969: The Second Annual Profiler's Choice Awards are up & running at "Chit Chat on Author's Corner" forum. The nomination ballot IS available! Please, please, please READ the rules and category descriptions before casting your noms. Time is running out...the nomination period is half over. The LAST day to submit your ballot is October 15, 2011, 11:59pm EDT. Remember, without you guys there'd be no awards! HAVE A BALL! We're SUPER EXCITED!_


	19. Chapter 19

Anyone But You-Chapter 19

**~The good news is that this is a large chapter...the bad news is that this will probably be the last chapter for the next 4-5 weeks. School is killing me right now and I have an important paper due soon along with a major exam coming up and I need to focus on those right now. I WILL finish this story, I'm not abandoning it, but it won't be updated for awhile. Thanks for your patience and understanding!**

**~Thanks to ilovetvalot for a few of the lines in this story.**

* * *

><p>As they walked into the living room, Dave and Lucy could smell the food in the kitchen and it smelled divine.<p>

"Um, Dave?" Stephen said hesitantly from the sofa. His older brother turned and glared at him. "Some guy is here with paperwork for you and Jan to sign," Stephen continued hesitantly. "He showed up at the same time as the food and he's in the kitchen right now."

Dave gave him a curt nod and continued in to the kitchen with Lucy; Stephen followed at a safe distance, knowing he was on the shit lists of both his brother and sister.

"Ah, there you two are," Janet said with a smile. "Is everything okay?" Both Lucy and Dave nodded, so Janet continued. "Lucy, Stephen, why don't you take this stuff into the living room while Dave and I stay in here for a minute?" It came across as a question, but it was really an order as Janet thrust the bags of food, silverware and plates into their hands.

As they left the room, Lucy heard the man, who had been sitting patiently at the kitchen table, introduce himself. "Mr. Rossi, I'm John Statton, one of William Huxley's associates and I have the paperwork you requested." Lucy recognized the second name as that of her dad's attorney and she was puzzled as to why her dad had legal paperwork sent to her aunt's house. The mystery deepened when she heard her dad's response.

"Thanks for coming by John," he said. "I'll sleep better knowing that Lucy will be taken care of if anything should happen to me. Now, how is this going to work with Jan? Because-"

"Should we set up on the coffee table and eat on the couch, or do you think we should all sit on the floor around the table?" Stephen asked, cutting into her eavesdropping.

She snorted, "God love them, but do you really see my dad or your sister as 'sit on the floor' kind of people?"

Stephen laughed, "No, I guess not, so let's just get everything set up on the table and we can sit on the furniture."

"'Kay," Lucy agreed and they got to work. They set things up in silence for a few minutes before Stephen finally spoke.

"Hey Luce, I'm sorry about what I said before, I was being an idiot and I was totally joking around with your dad…you know, trying to get under his skin. I didn't mean what I said."

"I know," she said as she sorted the knives and forks. "And I probably shouldn't have reacted so intensely, it's just…I still have trouble believing he actually wants to slow down, that he is willing to give everything up just for me. I guess a part of me is scared that when we get back to DC, everything will go back to the way it was, that I'll just be a nuisance in his life again."

"First of all, you have _never _been a nuisance in his life," her uncle said firmly. "The two of us talked last night and he told me he'll always regret what he said to you, you know about being a responsibility. Second, he's always felt bad about his busy work schedule and he's wanted to cut back for years but he just hasn't known how to do it. You're giving him that reason, kiddo, and I know he's looking forward to moving from the profiler role over to the father role."

"Really?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"Really," Stephen affirmed. "A part of him has always thought that _you_ didn't want him in your life; that you blamed him for the divorce, and then, after you moved in with him, you were nearly a teenager and he assumed you didn't want him as involved in your life. I know he was an ass to you Lucy, but you also need to learn how to communicate with him better."

That gave Lucy pause; she'd focused so much on what her dad had said to _her_ that she had forgotten that she'd shouted a couple of awful things at _him_ as well. Not wanting to focus on that right before a family dinner, she shook her head as if to clear it, and then changed the subject. "So was my dad really a huge trouble maker when he was younger?" She asked, thinking back to the previous night's dinner.

"Oh God, yes!" Stephen laughed. "When he wasn't getting into trouble with the law, then he was getting into it at school and don't even get me started on how many times he was busted climbing into or out of girl's bedroom windows."

"WHAT?" Lucy said incredulously. The very few times the topic of sex had ever come up at their house, her dad had always made it clear to her that it was his expectation that she wait until marriage to partake in that particular experience. He'd also hinted that he had been rather chaste until his first marriage, so this tidbit of information was blowing her mind.

Stephen nodded, "Oh yeah, good ol' Davie was quite the Lothario back in the day," he said, forgetting his audience was the teenage daughter of said Lothario. "He was always sneaking out at night to meet one girl or another, since he didn't stay with them for very long, and that's one of the reasons he was constantly busted by the cops. Seriously, if Dave had made a notch on his headboard for every girl he was with in high school, his bed would have turned into a pile of wood chips! And it didn't stop there! I mean, you know he's the reason for all of the FBI anti-fraternization rules, right? Back in the-" he was interrupted by the sound of a clearing throat from the doorway and he looked up and felt his blood run cold.

His older brother stood in the doorway with an expression on his face that was both incredulous and murderous at the same time and Stephen finally realized exactly what he had told his niece.

"Lucy," Dave said in a deceptively pleasant voice, "Leave the room for a minute please."

Lucy took one step towards the kitchen when she felt herself being tugged backwards by her uncle. "No Lucy, stay. I know that look in my brother's eyes; that look says I'm going to die, slowly and painfully."

"Uncle Stephen, I really should go help Aunt Janet with the drinks," Lucy said, barely keeping her laughter at bay.

"Uh uh," he said, as he moved further behind her. "You don't understand Luce, your dad is like MADDD pissed. Like hide the shovels and the guns pissed."

"Really Stephen, you're resorting to using a teenage girl as a shield?" Dave asked, trying to keep his terrorizing façade; after 53 years on the planet, it was nice to see he hadn't lost his ability to put the fear of God into his younger sibling.

"You're damn right I am! I'm fairly sure you won't go through her to get to me!" Stephen said, as an unnaturally pale pallor took over his face.

"Hey! Can someone give me a hand here?" Janet said, struggling as she carried four glasses of cola into the room. Dave shot his younger brother one final glare before he moved to help his sister.

Once everyone had their drinks, they piled their plates high with food and sat down around the comfortable living room. Dave and Lucy shared the sofa, while Janet sat in a comfortable chair next to them and Stephen sat as far away from Dave as he could. They were quiet for nearly ten minutes while they enjoyed the meal and watched _Dancing with the Stars _on Janet's DVR. Lucy finally broke the silence with a question.

"So what was that about earlier?" She asked through a mouth full of pepper steak. "Who was that guy?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Dave said. "He was from my attorney's office; I needed Janet to sign some paperwork."

"What kind of paperwork was so urgent that it had to be messengered to Jan's house?" Stephen asked, his mouth even more full of food than Lucy's had been.

Dave rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly, "They were guardianship papers; I wanted to make sure that if something would ever happen to me, Lucy would go to Janet and Robert."

Lucy thought for a minute. "What about mom?" She asked, her eyebrows knitted it confusion.

"What _about _your mother?" Dave asked, his confusion growing as well.

"Won't _she_ have something to say about all of this?" Lucy asked, as though the question should be obvious to everyone.

"I could care less what your mother has to say about anything," her dad told her. "She is no longer a part of the decision making…hell, as far as I'm concerned, she's no longer a part of _anything_ in your life!"

"What?" Lucy cried as she turned and faced her dad full on. Buster, who had been dozing at her feet, waiting for the occasional piece of beef to fall, woke up with a start and gave a little "woof!" before moving closer to the fireplace. "She's my mother, I can't just cut her out of my life!"

"She hurt you Lucy," Dave said calmly, but inside he wanted to tell his daughter exactly what he thought of her mother. Wisely, he didn't. "I can't let that happen to you again."

"But she doesn't hit me _all _of the time…just sometimes," she said.

"One time is more than enough," Janet said, jumping into the fray. "Lucy your mother left marks on your body and she's been doing it for years; that _can't _happen again!"

"God, it's not so bad! I can deal with her anger but I can't just stop seeing her! Besides, I only see her a few times a year as it is, so what's the big deal?" Yeah, what she'd done to her over the years wasn't great, but she was still her mother, for God's sake! And as much as she wished she could hate her...she didn't, not really.

"The big deal is that what she did to you was NOT okay and if I send you back to her, it will give both you and her the idea that her abuse IS okay and I _won't_ have that!" Dave said loudly, but not angrily; he had to find a way to get it into her head that the beatings she'd suffered at her mother's hands were not right.

"So what are you saying?" Lucy yelled. "Are you saying that I have to totally cut mom out of my life? That I can never see her or talk to her again? I can't do that! SHE'S MY MOTHER!" With that she jumped to her feet, fully intending to run out of the room, but Dave snagged her arm and pulled her back down onto the sofa, a little closer to him this time.

"Don't do that," he said, "Don't run away and end the conversation, stay and talk to us, to me."

"Why should I? You don't listen to _me_!"

"I've been trying Luce," Dave said as he took her hand in his. "I know I haven't been great at it in the past, but I'm listening now."

"She's my mom and, yeah she can be a royal bitch sometimes, but we also have fun together!"

"When is it more fun for you, Lucy?" Her aunt asked loudly; she knew she should've had the bitch taken out after the third time she'd cheated on her brother, but she hadn't and now she was regretting it. "Is it more fun when your mother makes little jabs at you about your hair, clothes, and life? Or is it more fun when she hits you hard enough to leave bruises that last for a week? Or maybe you like it when she threatens your well-being if you tell anyone about what she does to you?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Lucy snapped and as much as Dave wanted to tell his sister to lay off of his daughter, he didn't because someone needed to do this and he realized it couldn't be him, not if he didn't want to totally ruin the fragile peace they'd come to over the past week.

"Or did you have the most fun when your mother's boyfriends would stand by and do nothing to help you? Or did they help _her_? Did they help smack you around? Did they do other things?" Janet asked, holding her breath. Ever since she'd learned about the physical abuse Lucy had suffered, one of her biggest fears was that the abuse hadn't ended there; no, she was afraid that Lucy had suffered other abuse by her mother's boyfriends…sexual abuse and she knew if that had happened, it would be a race to see whether she or Dave would kill Angela first. Thankfully, Lucy shook her head.

"My mother's boyfriends NEVER touched me; mom wouldn't let 'em, she didn't want them getting into any trouble. She knew I would've told somebody about _that_, so she was the only one to hit me…to hurt me," Lucy yelled, but Dave could hear tears close to the surface. He'd dealt with enough abuse victims in his years with the BAU to know that even though their abusers had subjected them to untold pain and emotional suffering, they usually still felt loyalty to them and he knew he was seeing that in his daughter right now.

"Lucy," he said gently, "I _can't_ let you go back to her, I can't let you be near her. You might not think what she did to you was all that bad, but it was! She hurt you honey, and she hurt you for many years and in many different ways and if I let you go back to her, it will be like I'm saying that I agree with what she did to you, that I'm on board with it and I NEVER want you to think that! I love you too much to ever let your mother hurt you again and the only way I can be sure that she won't hurt you is to keep you from her."

Lucy, who had been looking at the floor while he was talking, looked up at him and he could see the tears pouring out of her eyes. "But…but I love her," she said pathetically and she meant it. She wished she could hate her mother, but she couldn't, even after all of the things she'd endured at the woman's hands. She knew what her mother had done to her was wrong, but she was confused by all of her feelings and she wished everything would stop, just for a minute, just so she could get a grip on everything.

"I know you do Luce," her dad said as he pulled her towards him. He wrapped his arms around her and let her sob into his chest; she'd been holding everything in for the past six years and he knew it was starting to come out. While he was happy she felt comfortable enough with him to show him her raw emotions, he also felt horrible that she had to go through any of it at all. As Lucy's tears soaked through his shirt, he made a promise to himself that he would do whatever it took to make her into a happy, carefree teenager.

xxxxxxxxxx

The next day, after a morning walk with her aunt, where the two of them discussed what had happened the night before, and after a late breakfast, Dave and Lucy began the drive back to Washington DC in his rented sedan. They had been gone for a week and while they both appreciated the time they had gotten to spend together, they both knew it was time to re-join the real world.

After the nearly six hour drive from Commack, the two of them were happy to be finally home. After dropping their bags off in their respective rooms, they both instinctively beelined it for the kitchen, looking for something to make for dinner. They were disappointed to find the refrigerator held mostly expired food and the cupboards were nearly bare.

"I'll head to the grocery store later," Lucy said, out of habit. She was used to her dad working most weekends, so she normally went by herself and used the emergency credit card her dad had given her.

"Why don't you stay here and relax Luce?" He asked. "I'll go."

The teen shook her head, "You won't know what to get."

Dave was about to argue that point with her when it dawned on him that she was right, he _didn't _know what to get! In his mind, the refrigerator was always magically stocked with the types of food they both enjoyed and he realized she had always been the primary shopper for them.

"You're right," he admitted, "So why don't we go together?"

"It's not a big deal dad, I'm used to going by myself," she said, not quite understanding why he was so insistent upon coming along. He quickly clarified it for her.

"Look Luce, if I'm going to be a real dad, then I'm going to be one all of the way. There's no reason why I shouldn't take over grocery shopping and laundry and all of the other stuff that the parent normally does; I just need you to show me what to get and where, okay?"

She smiled softly and nodded; a part of her had been worried that things would go back to the way they had been when they got home; that her dad would suddenly immerse himself in work again, that he would be too busy to spend time with her and if that had happened, it would have devastated her, but it looked like he was serious about the whole 'being a dad' thing. While she was happy about that, she still wasn't sure if he was doing it because he wanted to or because he felt he _had _to, so she gave him one more chance to back out.

"Look dad, you don't have to do all of this. You don't have to cut your hours at work, or possibly retire, and you don't have to be Mr. Mom; it's enough to know you offered it to me."

Dave sighed, "I don't know how many times I'll have to tell you this Lucy, but I'll keep doing it until you get it through your thick skull; I WANT to do this! I want to cut back at the BAU and I want to spend more time with you. I've missed too much in your life already and I don't want to miss any more. Whether you believe it or not right now, I love you and you will always be the most important thing in my life, capisce?"

She nodded, "I…I love you too dad," she said, "And I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Her dad asked, confused.

"I'm sorry for blaming you for the divorce and I'm sorry for saying you left us; I know you didn't and while I didn't know about her affairs, I always knew the divorce was mostly mom's fault and I shouldn't have said that."

"And _I_ shouldn't have told you about the affairs," he said. "It was shitty of me, you didn't need to know about all of that."

Lucy shrugged, "I'm glad I know the truth. And I'm also sorry that I blamed you for not seeing the signs of abuse in me. I kept that secret under lock and guard and there's no reason you should've seen it."

Dave shook his head, "You're wrong honey, I _should _have seen it. I have advanced degrees in psychology _and_ I'm a profiler extraordinaire; I should have seen the signs immediately, there is no way you should've had to suffer your mom's abuse for six years."

They were both silent for a moment, until Dave finally spoke. "So how about we grab an early dinner somewhere before we go grocery shopping?" Lucy nodded her agreement. "Any ideas where you want to go?"

"How about Five Guys? There's one close to the grocery store," Lucy told him.

"What's Five Guys?" He asked.

Lucy's jaw dropped open, "It's only the best hamburger restaurant on the planet! Jeez dad, you really have a lot to learn, don't you?"

"I guess I do," he agreed with a smile. He was looking forward to learning all about her.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN 2-**From ilovetvalot and tonnie2001969: The Second Annual Profiler's Choice Awards are up & running at "Chit Chat on Author's Corner" forum. The nomination ballot IS available! Please, please, please READ the rules and category descriptions before casting your noms. Time is running out...the nomination period is half over. The LAST day to submit your ballot is **October 15, 2011, 11:59pm EDT**. Remember, without you guys there'd be no awards! HAVE A BALL! We're SUPER EXCITED!_


	20. Chapter 20

Anyone But You-Chapter 20

**~I'm back! My schedule has lightened considerably so I hope to update this (and my other stories) on more of a regular basis. Since it's been awhile since I've updated, I decided to post a large chapter instead of breaking it up. **

**~Since I haven't written in quite a while, I had a hard time finding my muse again so this chapter is a bit rough. Sorry!**

* * *

><p>"So how do we not have a house full of dogs?" Dave asked. It had been nearly two weeks since he and Lucy had returned to DC and he had just accompanied her to the dog shelter where she volunteered. He had planned to go with her the previous week, but he'd had to go to the BAU to fill out paperwork for his status change and one thing had led to another and he'd missed the opportunity to accompany her and, not only that, it put a ding in the fragile relationship he'd forged with her. He knew she didn't fully believe that he would step away from everything if he had to and missing his first real chance to get a glimpse of her outside life hadn't really proven much to her but once he'd finally gotten home and showed her the paperwork, she'd finally believed him.<p>

Thankfully, Dave's best friend and boss had managed to finagle things for him with the higher ups; as of one week prior, Dave was officially an 'as needed' consultant for the BAU. In exchange for the almost unheard of position, Dave had to teach a two day profiling seminar four times per year at the academy, but he knew it was a small price to pay for the drastic change to his schedule. While he had been dead serious about re-retiring if he'd had to, he wanted to stay somewhat in the profiling world and this deal would let him do just that.

In the week since he'd changed his status with the FBI, he hadn't been called once for consultations or even his opinion and it was weird for him to have nothing to do. When he retired the first time around, he'd just written his second book and was starting his third one, not to mention the fact that he had a wife and small child to keep him busy during the day. But now…well, Lucy was in school all day and all of his friends in town worked 60 hour weeks and all of his retired friends had scattered to warmer climates, so he'd found himself with a lot of spare time on his hands. During that time, he was trying his utmost best to become a modern day 'Mr. Mom.' On Monday he'd attempted to do all of the laundry in the house, but that had been beyond disastrous and it had resulted in a trip to the mall with Lucy so he could replace two-thirds of her wardrobe. Then on Tuesday, he'd gone to the PTA meeting that had been advertised on the school's website and Jimmy Davison had nearly fallen out of his chair when he saw his best friend take a seat amongst all of the mothers. The previous day he'd gone grocery shopping, so at least the shelves were stocked, but he was still somewhat discombobulated. The only really good part of the last few weeks was getting to know the ins and outs of his daughter's life.

While they had spent a week together in New York, much of that time had been spent just trying to get past the awfulness of his words and actions of that horrible weekend, so while he had learned a few things about Lucy, it had been piecemeal. Now that they were back on their home turf, he was learning things about her everyday and a large part of him was ashamed that it had taken him so long to get to know her. The first Tuesday after they had returned from their trip, he'd been surprised when the doorbell rang at six o'clock in the evening. He had been even more surprised when he'd opened the door to find a Pizza Hut delivery guy holding an order. Dave was about to turn him away, thinking a mistake had been made, when Lucy had barreled past him and had greeted the delivery guy by name and handed him a few bills before taking the box and shutting the door. She then explained to him that she had a standing Pizza Hut order every Tuesday. Dave had been horrified; not so much by the fact that she ate pizza on a weekly basis, but that he ate shitty, mass produced pizza on a weekly basis. She was Italian for God's sake; she should be eating the authentic stuff! Over her protests, he'd cancelled the standing order, thrown the box in the trash and made pizza using the recipe his mother had taught him long ago and it had turned out pretty well. While she had been pissed at him for ruining her dinner, she had seemed to enjoy the impromptu Italian cooking lesson he'd given her and by the end of the night, they were talking and laughing while putting the finishing touches on the meal.

"Trust me," Lucy said, breaking into his thoughts, "If this wasn't a no-kill animal shelter, our backyard would be _full_ of pets."

"I don't know," Dave responded hesitantly, "If Clyde is still there next week, we might consider taking him home…at least for a little while."

Lucy smiled, "Its hard not to fall in love with them, isn't it?" Clyde was an old Golden Retriever that had been at the shelter for the past few months and he was a lovable dog, they all were and if her dad knew how many times he'd almost come home to a house full of dogs, he'd probably make her quit her volunteer work.

It had been…interesting having him around for the past two weeks. Lucy was reminded of the old adage 'be careful what you wish for because it might come true.' Sure, she'd always wanted her dad to be more involved in her life, but now? Well, it wasn't quite what she'd imagined it would be. First, since he was no longer working at the BAU full-time and since he was between books, he was always home and she meant _always_! She wasn't used to having someone home full-time and she realized that she had somewhat enjoyed being a fairly solitary person but that was out the window now. She knew her dad was trying to make up for both the horrible things he'd said to her and for lost time, but he was going to drive her insane. First, he insisted on driving her to and from school every day. At first that was nice, but she found she missed the Metro ride since it had given her a chance to finish up last minute homework before school.

Also, he was trying to become Mr. Mom in just a few days. Since he'd been gone a lot, Lucy had done most of the cooking, cleaning and shopping around the house and she had a routine…a routine which her father had blown to hell and back. During the previous week, he'd decided to do laundry, so he'd gathered up all of her dirty clothes from her bedroom and had run a load of blue jeans. After she'd given him hell for going into her room without permission, she'd pulled her jeans out of the washer and found all of them to be about two sizes smaller. Since her dad hadn't done his own laundry since college, he hadn't quite known how to use all of the settings on the machine and he had inadvertently washed her clothing with hot water. Thankfully she'd caught it after the first load so nothing else was ruined, but come on! The man had advanced college degrees and he couldn't figure out the washing machine? She had been less than happy until he took her to the Gap and replaced the denim he'd ruined and had gotten her some sweaters she'd been eyeing as well.

Then there was the food. For someone who could remember the subtlest of nuances that a criminal displayed, the man wasn't very observational as to the types and brands of foods they both ate. She didn't know when she'd ever given him the idea that she would _ever_ eat liverwurst from the deli, but he'd brought home half a pound of it one night. It was bad enough that he'd restricted her coffee and had cancelled her long standing pizza hut order, but to deviate from the set grocery list? That was pushing it.

As annoyed as she was with some of the things her dad was doing, Lucy was touched that he was trying so hard and most of the time she enjoyed having him around. It was weird to have a lunch packed for her in the morning and to have someone, other than her friends, to talk to about school. Plus, it just made her feel loved to have him around and she needed that, particularly now when she didn't know what was going to happen with her mom.

"Oooh, Mr. Chang's is on the way home; can we pick up Chinese for dinner?" Lucy asked.

Dave looked disappointed, "I thought we could grab Five Guys."

"Dad," the teen said as she rolled her eyes. "We've had that four times since we got back from New York; it's time for a change." Dave had fallen in love with the hamburger joint but Lucy knew if she ate one more burger from there any time soon, she would throw up.

"Fine," Dave said dejectedly. He had Lucy call in the order and they picked it up on the way home.

Once they got there, they dug into the food like they hadn't eaten in three months and they made plans for the weekend. When they were done, they both put the leftovers away and cleaned the kitchen. As they finished, Lucy's cell phone rang and Dave watched as she retrieved the device from her book bag and then paled.

"What's wrong Luce?" He asked as he moved toward her.

She just shook her head as the phone continued to ring. "It's mom," she whispered.

Dave could tell his daughter wanted to answer it, but that was the _last _thing he wanted her to do. "Give me the phone, honey," he ordered gently but she didn't move. "Give me the phone now, Luce."

The firmness in his voice got through to her and she handed him the phone, which had stopped ringing. "I didn't know what to do," she said softly. "I still don't."

"I know Luce, that's why I'm going to nip this in the bud right now," Dave said, knowing she wasn't just talking about the phone call.

"But dad-"

"No Lucy, your mom has to know that she can't call you anymore; we talked about this." And it was true, they had talked about it in New York but they'd avoided the topic since then…it was like the thousand pound gorilla in the middle of the room that no one talked about. "Why don't you go upstairs and work on your homework?" He suggested when he saw that she still looked conflicted.

"Okay," she finally agreed. Dave waited until he heard her bedroom door close before he picked up the cell phone and dialed his ex-wife's number.

"Lucille Marie Rossi," Angela said frostily when she answered the phone, "I _expect _you to answer my phone calls, no matter-"

"Hello Angela," Dave said in a deceptively calm voice; the only thing that was keeping him from laying into his ex-wife was the fact that his daughter was upstairs in her room and he didn't want to do anything that would alienate her again.

"David!" She said, startled. "I thought you were Lucy. Will you put her on please?"

"No, I will _not_ put her on the phone," he hissed. "Why would I do that? So you can berate her? So you can tear her down? So you can threaten her? I thought I'd made myself clear when we talked a few weeks ago, but I guess I didn't, so let me clarify this for you once and for all; you are NEVER to contact Lucy again! I don't want you calling her, emailing her, waiting for her outside of her school, nothing! Do you understand?"

"Are you really still upset over the way I discipline our daughter?" She asked breezily. "You never had a problem with it when we were married."

"That's because when we were married, we saved spanking as a last resort and there is a _vast _difference between a couple of swats on the ass and the beating you gave her when she was with you!

"She's older now; a couple of swats aren't going to cut it anymore!" His ex protested.

"Jesus Christ Angela, you left marks on her body that lasted well over a week! That's abuse and, from what Lucy told me, it's been going on for YEARS!"

"We're clearly never going to agree on this, David, so just let it go. You can discipline her as you see fit while she's with you and I'll do the same when she's with me."

"You listen to me, Angela and you listen well," Dave said in a lethal voice. "She's not going to BE with you anymore! Don't you ever contact her again!"

"She's my daughter, you can't keep me from her!" Angela shrieked.

"The hell I can't!" Dave bellowed. "The _only _reason you're not being charged with multiple counts of child abuse is because, for some reason that I can't fathom, our daughter still loves you and she doesn't want to see you suffer…too bad you couldn't give her the same courtesy."

"David, I-" She started, but Dave wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise.

"I'm dead serious Angela; if you contact her in any way or if you do _anything_ to make this situation worse, I'll have you brought up on felony charges so fast, your fucking head will spin!"

"Too bad it will be your word against mine," Angela spat. "If our daughter loves me so much, do you really think she would take the stand against me?"

Dave gave a sharp bark of laughter. "Actually, it will be your word against the pictures we took of Lucy's back a few weeks ago. Did you really think I wouldn't get photographic proof of what you did to her? Hell, even if you aren't convicted, your name and reputation will be ruined. Do you really think the philanthropic men you go after will want a child abuser? Think about it Angela."

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments before Angela finally spoke. "Fine," she snapped. "You can have her all to yourself, I never wanted her anyway." With that she disconnected the call.

Dave stayed in the kitchen for a few more minutes so he could get his emotions under control before he went to talk to his daughter. How could his ex-wife think that what she did to Lucy was acceptable? How could she possibly think he would go along with it? He shook his head, as if to clear it and then got up from his seat and made his way to the second floor. He knocked on Lucy's door and waited for permission to enter, which he received. He opened the door and found her sitting at her desk, attempting to do her homework.

"How'd it go with mom?" She asked, not looking up from her book; she was afraid that if she did, she would start crying and she'd done enough crying in the past few weeks to last a lifetime.

He came further into the room and sat down on the foot of her bed. "Not great, but she got the message and she won't be contacting you anymore."

Lucy turned to look at him and he could see the tears in her eyes. "This is so messed up," she said. "I should be glad she's out of my life; how can I love someone who hurt me for so long?"

"You love her because you're a kind and forgiving person," he told her. "You love her because she's your mom and you remember the good times you had with her. A few weeks ago you told me that you couldn't just turn off your love for your mother like it was a faucet and I understand that, but do you understand why you can't see her anymore?"

Lucy nodded, "I get it, but I don't like it."

Dave sighed, "I know honey, I don't like it either…I don't like this entire situation, but my first priority has to be keeping you safe and you're not safe with your mom."

"I know," she practically whispered and Dave was sure she was about to burst into tears but she surprised him. Instead of breaking down and crying, she took a deep breath and went back to her book.

While she read, Dave looked around her room and realized that it was still decorated to his tastes. Sure, she had posters and pictures on the walls, but it still had the guest room furniture in it and the walls were still a light brown. It gave him an idea.

"How about we re-decorate your bedroom this weekend?" He asked and her head snapped up.

"Really?" She asked excitedly. "You mean I can re-paint the walls?"

He nodded, "New wall colors, new furniture, new carpeting, the whole kit and caboodle."

"Oh my God, that would be awesome!"

Dave laughed as he stood up, "I've never seen someone so excited to paint walls before. Any thoughts as to what color you want?"

"Purple," she said. "But a light purple; I want my room to be light and airy."

"I think we can do that," Dave told her as he came over to her. "Don't stay up too late tonight," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"I won't," she promised and then just as he was about to leave the room, she called out, "Hey dad?"

"What is it Peanut?"

"Thanks." She wasn't sure if she was thanking him for the room redecoration, or for protecting her from her mother, but she needed to say it.

"You're welcome Luce; I would do anything for you." With that he left, and Lucy went back to her homework, but this time she had a smile on her face.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN 2: And now for some shameful self-promoting...I've been nominated for the **Profiler's Choice Criminal Minds Awards **in numerous categories! Pease check out the final ballot at http : / / forum. fanfiction. net /topic /74868 /51253709 /1 / (remove the spaces) and be sure to vote by November 30, 2011._**


	21. Chapter 21

Anyone But You-Chapter 21

**~I would like to thank everyone who voted for me in the Profiler's Choice Awards; a bunch of my stories won awards!**

**~I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter posted. As much as I would love to promise that I'll update it regularly, postings will probably be spotty until after the New Year. I'm finishing up my studies and then I'll be traveling a lot during the holiday season and I'll be writing various Christmas stories. I am NOT abandoning this story, but like I said, posting will be fairly spotty. That being said, if anyone has an idea for a Christmas story for this universe, let me know and I'll try writing it...as long as it can be kept to about 1 or 2 chapters.**

* * *

><p>"JJ, wait up," Dave called out as he saw her step out of her favorite coffee shop. It had been nearly a month since he'd semi-retired from the Bureau and he hadn't seen the woman since then; he'd been concentrating on repairing his relationship with his daughter, but since Lucy seemed to be doing a lot better, he'd decided to begin working on his relationship with the beautiful media liaison. Since it was the second Wednesday of the month, Dave knew Henry would be with Will that night and he also knew that when her son was away, JJ would indulge in her favorite coffee at her favorite coffee shop before going home. He'd gotten there at around three o'clock that afternoon and he'd waited patiently for her arrival. While he'd waited, he'd had numerous cups of coffee and it seemed that the universe hated him enough to time her arrival to the exact time he'd decided to use the restroom. As a result, he'd almost missed her, but thankfully he caught her before she got too far away from him.<p>

"Dave!" She said, surprised. "How are you?" As she spoke, she prayed that he wouldn't hear the longing in her voice. One of the hardest things she had ever done was to put their relationship on hold because, if she was honest with herself, her relationship with Dave was one of the best ones she'd ever been in. Sure the man was an anal retentive neat freak and his protectiveness drove her nuts at times, especially when it extended to her dealings with the press, but she'd also been happier than she could remember and she knew she loved the man, even if she'd never admitted it to him. At the sound of his voice, she wanted to jump into his arms and never let him go, but she knew he needed to work things out with his daughter before they could give it another go; otherwise none of them would ever be truly happy. Also, as a mother, she'd meant what she'd said about not quite trusting him around Henry. She knew Lucy's abuse had come as a huge shock to him the night of the blow up and she knew he'd reacted the way he had because of that, but she'd seen what it had done to the fifteen year old and she couldn't imagine how her young son would react if Dave ever turned on him that way.

"I'm good Jen; this whole 'stay at home dad' thing has taken some getting used to, but I think I'm slowly finding my niche," he told her as they walked along the sidewalk. "At least I'm not glued to _The __View_ on TV anymore."

"And Lucy? How is she doing?" JJ asked, barely keeping a smile off of her face at the idea of Dave watching _The __View._

"Better," he said, smiling as he thought of his daughter. "We worked through a lot of things and we're getting along much better now; she finally forgave me for what I said to her and I'm much more active in her life now. I still have to walk on eggshells with her at times, but I'm guessing I would be doing that even if I hadn't been an incredible asshole towards her."

JJ nodded, "You would be; fifteen is a difficult age for any girl and Lucy's going through a lot of extra angst."

"How are you and Henry doing?" He asked politely, but what he really wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. He restrained himself, however, since he knew she was still carrying her service weapon and he didn't want a bullet to the head or chest.

"We're doing fine. Work is a bit busier since you're not there but Hotch has finally agreed to take on interns, so they're helping to lighten the load."

"Hotch is letting kids profile our cases?" Dave asked in disbelief; had his friend gone insane?

"No, they're mostly assisting in research and some of the mundane office work; Hotch won't let them near the cases and they stay back at Quantico while we're in the field," she told him and then paused for a minute. "Henry misses you."

Dave's heart ached a little upon hearing that, "I miss him too…I miss _both_ of you."

"Dave," JJ started with a sigh, but the profiler wouldn't let her speak.

"I know what you're going to say Jen, and you're right, I was an incredibly insensitive prick to Lucy, not just that night but in general, and you have every right to protect your son from my insensitivity and my proclivity to speak first and think later, but I've changed Jen; spending time with my daughter has made me into a better man."

"I'm glad Dave, really I am but-"

Again, he interrupted her, "We were good together Jen, you have to admit that." He watched as she nodded. "Have your feelings for me changed since that night?"

"They haven't," she admitted, "But I don't know if now is the time for us to start back up. I'm glad Lucy's forgiven you and I'm happy the two of you are getting along, but who knows what will happen if Henry and I rejoin the mix. Your daughter and I didn't exactly part on friendly terms."

"I know, but I'm sure she's forgiven you by now. I'm not asking to pick up where we left off; I know I fucked up too badly for that, but I just want another chance with you. Lucy and I need the two of you in our lives."

"I don't know," she said hesitantly, but Dave could hear a little bit of longing in her voice as well, so he decided to push his luck.

"Lucy and I are going to the cabin this weekend; I'll talk to her and I'll see if it's alright with her if the two of you join us," he said and it was at that moment that JJ knew Dave really _had _changed. In the past he wouldn't have bothered asking his daughter if they could come along, he would've just arbitrarily made the decision, but now it seemed as though he was really considering her feelings in the matter so she nodded.

"Okay. That actually works out well for me; the city is repairing the water main in front of my house this weekend and we'll be without water for thirty-six hours."

"Great!" He said enthusiastically. "I'll talk to Lucy later tonight and I'll give you a call tomorrow." As he spoke, he stopped in front of a Chipotle restaurant. "I'm actually meeting her and Jimmy right now; we're going to grab a quick dinner and then we're going to catch the Capitals hockey game."

"Sounds like a fun night," JJ told him.

"I hope so," he said as he bent down to kiss her on the cheek. "If I don't see you this weekend, I'm sure I'll see you sometime soon."

"I'm sure you will too," she murmured as she watched him walk into the restaurant.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Where is he?" Lucy wondered out loud.

"I'm sure he's on his way Luce," Jimmy told her as she fidgeted in her seat.

"But if we don't order soon, we'll never make it to the game in time for the face off!"

"We'll make it Luce, your dad loves hockey as much as you do and he won't make us late for the game," the priest reassured her. "So do you think the Caps will kill the Panthers tonight?"

"I don't know, I've been too busy to really follow how they've been doing this season," she told him.

"Are you all caught up now?" He asked, slipping into 'principal mode' for a minute. Since he was both a friend of the family and the principal of her school, they had agreed long ago to keep school separate from everything else, but since she was no longer spending any nights at the school, he didn't see her as much and he wanted to make sure things were okay with her.

"I am," she nodded. "Thanks for your help with all of that." After she had returned from her week in New York with her dad, Jimmy had called her into his office to talk to her. After hugging her and apologizing for missing the warning signs of her abuse, he'd laid down a game plan for her to get caught up on the work she'd missed. While she'd been away, he'd talked to her teachers and had cited a family emergency as the basis for her absence, knowing she wanted her privacy regarding what had happened to her. He'd arranged for after school help for her and that, combined with extra credit projects, had helped her keep her grades up.

"I'm the principal of your school _and _your Godfather, of course I was going to help you," he told her.

"Yeah, but you also kept Mr. Collins from dropping me from the play, and I really appreciate it; I know you probably had to sell your soul in order to keep him from doing that."

Jimmy smiled wryly, "Not quite, but I do owe him a favor now, but it was worth it."

"Yeah, well-" Lucy was going to say more, but at that moment she caught sight of her dad and JJ standing out front of the restaurant. She watched as they spoke for a minute and then her stomach clenched when she saw him kiss her on the cheek. Were they getting back together? She'd seen JJ the other day at Starbucks with Henry and some other guy and she thought the woman had moved on but now, seeing her with her dad, she didn't know what to think.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," he said as he sat down next to Lucy. "Should we go up and order?"

They got their food and ate as quickly as possible before making their way to the sports arena down the street. It was a good game, but Dave could tell something bothering Lucy throughout it and he finally asked her about it on their way home.

"Is something wrong Luce? You were pretty quiet during the game and you didn't even cheer during the fight at the end, although I think Jimmy's calls for blood were enough for all of us." He expected a smile from her, but she just shrugged and stared out the window. "What is it, Peanut?"

"Are you and JJ getting back together?" She asked as she turned to look at him. Upon hearing the question, he glanced over at her and saw a disgruntled look on her face.

"Well, we never really broke up, we just took a break so that you and I could work on things," he told her slowly. "But we met up today and talked about some things and, yeah, I would like to re-start things with her. Is that a problem for you? Because the two of you seemed to be getting along."

"We _were_ getting along, until she blabbed everything to you! I trusted her to keep my secret and she didn't wait even TWO minutes before she tattled on me! So, yeah, it _is_ a problem for me!"

"Lucy, she _had _to tell me your secret," Dave told her. "I'm your father and I have the right to know when you're in an unsafe situation, not to mention that as an FBI agent, she had a duty to inform me that you were being hurt."

"Whatever," the teen said testily with a wave of her hand. "She promised me that whatever we talked about would stay between us and she went back on that; I don't know if I'll ever be able to trust her again!"

"She did what she did to protect you, honey."

"I don't care! She-"

"I love her, Lucy," Dave interrupted quietly. "I've never felt this way about a woman before, not even your mom."

"Really?" Lucy asked, somewhat deflated.

"Really," her dad affirmed. "I would really like her and Henry to join us at the cabin this weekend, but I won't invite them unless you're okay with it."

Lucy was as conflicted as she'd ever been; on the one hand, she really wanted to tell her dad no, that she would never accept JJ as part of her life, but on the other hand, he'd really been trying and he'd given up a lot for her, not to mention the fact that he had actually asked her if it was okay to invite them instead of just doing it arbitrarily. She realized that even though he'd been an incredible ass to her in the past, she couldn't keep him from someone he'd just admitted he loved, so she reluctantly nodded.

"Okay," she said as she exhaled slowly. "You can invite them. I can't promise I'll be all buddy-buddy with JJ, but I won't be an incredible bitch either."

He reached over and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I really appreciate this, Peanut," he said. "You know that even though I love her, I still love you too, right?" Lucy nodded quietly but kept her fears to herself. "And I know you're afraid that I'll slip into my old ways of ignoring you while they're around, but I promise I won't. In fact, I hereby give you permission to slap me upside the head if I start doing that, okay?"

Jeez, was he psychic? How in the heck did he know exactly what she was afraid of? "Okay dad," Lucy said softly. Even though he had reassured her, she was still worried about the upcoming weekend.


	22. Chapter 22

_Anyone But You-Chapter 21_

**~Wow, I'm sorry about the delays in posting updates to this story...my muse decided to hibernate this winter and she's slowly waking up.**

**~Check out the CCOAC forum for articles regarding plagiarism, fanfic lessons learned and Q&A with our featured author's of the week. **

* * *

><p>"Luceeeeeeeeee!" The little boy squealed as soon as the front door to the cabin opened and revealed the teenager standing behind her father. He had seen Dave at the BAU a few days previous while the agent had been retrieving some personal items from his office, so he didn't get the exuberant greeting. No, he hadn't seen Lucy in over a month and his excitement overtook him.<p>

"Henreeeeeeee!" She yelled back as the three year old threw himself at her.

"I haven't seen you in a REALLY long time," he said as he hugged her tightly. "Did you go away somewhere? Did you go and chase bad guys with my mommy?"

"No honey, my dad and I were just really busy," she told him as she disentangled herself from his surprisingly strong arms.

"Well I missed you! I drawed you lots of pictures in daycare but me and mommy forgot them at home," he chattered as they both walked further into the cabin and settled in the great room.

"Well you'll have to draw me some more then," the teen said with a smile. "Guess what? My dad and I bought a LOT of crayons and paper before we left the city so you'll be able to draw lots of things. We also bought a bucket of chalk so we can decorate the driveway and patio."

"Chalk?" He asked excitedly. "We drawed with chalk at daycare! Can we go out and do it now?"

"It's raining sweetheart," JJ said as she and Dave entered the room and overheard the tail end of the kids' conversation. "Maybe we can do it tomorrow," she told him as she moved further into the room. It was strange being back at the cabin with Dave and Lucy. While she and Henry had spent much more time at Dave's townhouse when she and Dave had been together, they'd also gone to the cabin a few times and again, it was odd being back there after having been apart from him for well over a month.

"How are you, Lucy?" She asked, somewhat formally as she sat down next to the teen on the sofa. After a very rocky start, she and Lucy had been getting along very well before the abuse issue came up and if it had been normal times, she would have embraced the girl but these were not normal times; the last time they'd spoken had been after Lucy's confrontation with Dave and when JJ had offered her sanctuary at her house, the girl had screamed that she hated her and then slammed her bedroom door in her face. As a result of that last encounter, plus the fact that she'd told Dave about the abuse after Lucy had made it very clear that she didn't want him knowing about it…well, she wasn't sure how she would be received.

As it turned out, she had cause to be concerned. Lucy acknowledged her greeting with a slight nod and a simple, "Fine thanks," before turning her attention back to Henry. She was even chillier to her than she had been when she and Dave had first started dating, and that had been pretty goddamned bad.

Lucy, who was sitting on the floor next to Henry, listened as he told her all about his new best friend and the friend's dog, but she was more focused on her swirling emotions. She didn't realize how angry she still was with JJ until she saw the woman face to face for the first time in over a month. A part of her knew that JJ had told her dad everything because she wanted her to be safe, but a larger part of her remembered the anger, the humiliation, the hurtful words that were said that night and she knew that if JJ had just kept her mouth shut, none of it would've happened. Sure, she and her dad were getting along better than they ever had and Lucy knew it was partly because JJ had told him about her mother, but she just couldn't get past the events of that night when she looked at her. As a result, she had to force herself to be cordial toward her.

As she glanced around the room, Lucy also realized that a large source of her unsettled mood and feelings were due to simply being back at the cabin. One of the worst beatings her mother had ever given her had taken place there less than two months previous and it was hard for her to look around and not see the places where her mother had inflicted both physical and emotional pain on her. There were times she had to force herself to stop and take deep breaths because she could feel the fear and panic threatening to overtake her. She hoped, as she replaced the bad memories with her mother with good ones of her father, that she would feel less panicked…as long as her dad didn't slip back into his old habit of caring for Henry and JJ first before remembering he had a daughter. He'd been good so far, but a large part of her was worried that it would go back to the way it had been with them, with her being kind of a 'leftover' in the group. If that happened, she wasn't sure what she would do.

xxxxxxxxxx

Because of the rain, the four of them spent most of the day watching kid's movies and relaxing in the great room. Henry, who was happy to have his teenage friend back, insisted that Lucy stay on the floor with him and help him color a rather large mural while Dave and JJ talked. One of the parents' favorite moments was when they re-entered the great room after washing the lunch dishes, and found both of their kids asleep on the floor next to each other. They'd stood back and observed them for a few moments before covering each of them with a blanket. After that, the adults resumed their discussion and got caught up on things while watching the rain fall outside of the great room windows.

During supper, JJ observed Dave and Lucy with a sense of relief and happiness; the two were more comfortable with each other since the last time she'd seen them and she was glad; after enduring years of her mother's abuse, both physical and emotional, Lucy deserved happiness and if that happiness had come at the expense of her friendship with the girl…well, it was worth it. As she watched them, she noticed Dave was more laid back with Lucy than she'd ever seen him and he was more affectionate with her and it put a smile on her face. As she helped Henry cut up his meatballs, she fervently hoped that this new found closeness between father and daughter would be a permanent one.

After dinner, Lucy did the dishes since the adults had cooked, and then she retired to her bedroom claiming a headache, but the adults could tell she simply needed some alone time, so they didn't call her on it. After watching yet _another _Disney movie, JJ took Henry upstairs to one of the bathrooms for his bath and Dave sought out his daughter. He knocked on her bedroom door and frowned when he didn't get a response. Knocking again, he called out, "Peanut, are you in there?" Still receiving no answer, he turned the doorknob and entered the empty bedroom.

When he saw that the room was empty, Dave felt panic clutch at his heart; what if she'd run away again? What if he'd pushed it too hard with her to let JJ and Henry back in their lives? What if he had unknowingly acted like an ass toward her again? Just as the 'what ifs' began to take over his rational mind, he saw movement on the balcony off of her bedroom. Giving a sigh of relief, he crossed the room, stepped onto the balcony that wrapped around the entire second floor and found his daughter painting her toenails in the dim glow of the light from her bedroom.

"Hi dad," she greeted as he sat down in one of the plush patio chairs next to her. She'd heard his footsteps in her bedroom, so his presence hadn't alarmed her.

"Hey Luce," he said as he got comfortable in the chair. "Are you okay? You seemed off tonight."

"I'm fine," she said breezily as she contorted herself so she could resume painting her toenails. "At least I will be, once I finish up here." Dave watched for a minute as she twisted, turned and hunched over, all so that her toenails would be bright purple in color. Finally, he couldn't watch anymore.

"Here," he said, holding out his hand for the nail polish. Lucy looked resigned as she handed it to him; she thought he was going to put a kibosh on the whole thing. Sure, the nail polish shade wasn't exactly natural, but she was putting it on her toenails, so why should he care? Besides, he knew the color wouldn't be on her fingernails, since it was against her school's dress code, so he didn't have to worry about that. She was just about to protest his seizure of her cosmetic when she felt him grasp her foot and move it so it was resting on his knee. She was shocked when he began painting her toes.

"Where did you learn how to do this?" She asked in awe.

"Cynthia had a thing for painting her toenails," he said, referring to his third wife. "Besides, it's not exactly rocket science."

Lucy nodded and then sat back and stared up at the starry sky. She could feel herself just begin to doze off when her father's voice brought her back into wakefulness.

"So what's up, Peanut?" He asked again as he looked up from her foot. "You seem…well, you seem not quite yourself tonight."

"It's nothing, dad."

"It's something," he argued gently. "Is it me? I've been trying hard not to be an jerk, but-"

"It's _not_ you, dad," she reassured him.

"But it's something," he said, not letting it go. He was relieved to learn that it wasn't anything he had done; he was trying hard to pay as much attention as possible to her so she wouldn't feel left out like she used to but it was hard balancing her needs against those of JJ and Henry. He was glad to know he had been successful at it.

"I don't know, it's just odd being back here with JJ and Henry; Henry's a great kid, but I'm just not comfortable with JJ anymore," she told him.

Dave sighed as he put her foot on the floor and motioned for her to put her other one on his knee. On one hand, he really wished she would understand that JJ had betrayed her trust because she had to, not because she wanted to, but on the other hand, he was glad that Lucy could admit her feelings to him instead of just being snotty towards JJ. So far she hadn't been overly nice to the woman, but she also hadn't been rude and that was something. He was about to say something but Lucy continued on.

"I guess too…I don't know, I just keep remembering my last time here…you know? With mom," she said in a small voice.

Dave was confused for a split second until the implication of her words dawned on him. "Jesus Peanut!"

"Hey, my toenails!" She exclaimed as he sat up straight and her foot fell off of his knee.

"God Luce, I never thought that it might be difficult for you to come back here."

"It's not really difficult, it's just gonna take me a little while to stop seeing mom around every corner, you know?" She asked rhetorically as she fixed her smudged polish with her fingers.

"You wanna tell me what happened with her that weekend?" Dave asked. He wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know the answer, but he knew…he _hoped_ the nightmare scenarios in his head were worse than what had actually happened. He hadn't pushed her to tell him until now and she hadn't volunteered any information prior to their current trip and he wasn't surprised when she shook her head. "Okay," he said, "But someday you're going to tell me about it and that someday is going to be soon."

"Sure thing dad," Lucy said, trying to mask the sarcasm in her voice. Her dad just stared at her for another moment and then stood up.

"You wanna join JJ and I down in the great room? Now that Henry is asleep, we can watch something other than animated movies."

"No thanks," Lucy said. "I'm going to sit out here for a little longer and then I'm going to go back inside and work on some homework."

"Well don't stay up too late," Dave said as he walked into her bedroom. He came back out to the balcony a few seconds later and draped a blanket over her shoulders.

"What's this for?" She asked in surprised as she wrapped up in the blanket her aunt had knitted for her.

Dave shrugged, "It's cold out here and I don't want you getting sick." He bent down and kissed her forehead. "Good night Peanut, I love you."

"Love you too dad," she said in a tight voice. As she watched her dad cut through her room and then exit into the hallway, she felt tears prick at her eyes. Two months ago, he wouldn't have brought her a blanket; hell, two months ago he wouldn't even have checked on her and now he was being thoughtful and nice. The changes in his demeanor still surprised her at times but in a good way.

True to her word, soon after her dad left her room, Lucy went back inside and began working on her homework. After an hour of conjugating French verbs, she called it quits and jumped into the shower. Afterwards, as she was getting into bed, she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she called out, thinking it was her dad coming in to say goodnight again. To her surprise, JJ entered and shut the door behind her.

"Hi Lucy, I feel like we didn't really get a chance to talk today," she said tentatively as she sat down in the lounge chair that was next to her bed.

"That's because I don't really want to talk to you," the teen said honestly, with a touch of hostility in her voice.

"Lucy," JJ said with a sigh, "I _had _to tell your dad about what happened. Both as a mother and as an F-"

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Lucy interrupted. "I've heard it all before from about five different people. You're a mother, you're an FBI agent, blah blah blah."

"Well that _does _make a difference," JJ said, feeling irritation enter her own words. "If Henry's father was hurting him, I would want to know and if someone knew and kept it from me? I would kill them, plain and simple."

"But you didn't just tell him THAT!" Lucy said loudly, almost shouting. "You told him _everything_! I heard you that night; after I went upstairs you blabbed all of my secrets! You told him how left out I had been feeling, you talked about how I felt he didn't like me, you told him how I felt like a guest in his house and you told him how I felt abandoned…like I wasn't as important as his work! You told him almost everything I had ever told you in confidence!"

"And it helped, didn't it?" JJ yelled back. "Your relationship with your father has improved tenfold since that night! Do you really think that would've happened without my help?"

"But they weren't your secrets to tell!" Lucy shot back. "When we talked, you told me you wouldn't go running to my dad about what I told you, but that's exactly what you did! And I can't help but feel betrayed by you!"

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way, Lucy," JJ said, struggling to make her voice calm again. "But you and I worked through a lot of our differences and I consider you a friend. Is there any way we can get back to where we were?"

Lucy shook her head slightly, "I honestly don't know, JJ. I won't stand in yours and dad's way, he loves you too much for me to ruin that, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to trust you again."

JJ's mind shut down when she heard Lucy tell her that Dave loved her and she barely heard the rest of the girl's words. Dave still loved her? Did she still love him? She shook her head to clear it and then refocused on the task at hand. She stood up from the chair and said, "Again, I'm sorry you feel that way, Luce, but I can promise you that unless you're in an unsafe situation, I _will _keep your confidences and I hope you'll let me prove that to you; I hope we can work on our relationship so that things are less tense between us." Not waiting for an answer, JJ quickly left the room and once she was in the hallway, she took a deep breath and tried to get her emotions under control.

The logical part of her brain knew that Lucy had some cause to be angry with her; not about her telling Dave about the abuse, but she HAD told him a bunch of her secrets that night and it must have felt like a huge betrayal to the teen. The logical part of her brain also reminded her that a lot of Lucy's anger was also misplaced anger. She couldn't confront her mother, so she was taking it out on the next closest female figure. Once Lucy was past that anger, they could work on rebuilding their friendship and JJ vowed that they would eventually be close again.

She had no idea that the events of the very next day would blow everything to hell and back between her and Lucy.


	23. Chapter 23

Anyone But You-Chapter 23

**Warning: There is discussion of physical discipline/abuse of a minor in this chapter.**

* * *

><p>Early the next morning, Lucy awoke to someone whispering her name over and over. "Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, wake up Luce." She tried ignoring it, but the voice wouldn't stop. Cracking one eye open, she saw Henry Jareau standing next to her bed with his face level to hers. As soon as her eye opened, the toddler let out a quiet squeal.<p>

"You're up!" He exclaimed with a huge smile on his face. Lucy, who was not as thrilled to be up at such an ungodly hour of the morning, glanced at the clock on her bedside table and groaned.

"Henry, honey, it's only seven o'clock; people are supposed to sleep late on the weekends," she told him as she rolled over to go back to sleep.

"I know Luce, but I'm awake nooooowwwww, and I'm bored," Henry whined. "I don't got none of my toys in my room."

"You don't have any toys in your room," Lucy corrected sleepily. "Why don't you go find your mom and have _her_ play with you?"

"I tried waking her up but when I went into hers and Dave's room, they were asleep and they didn't have no clothes on!"

THAT woke Lucy up. "Any clothes on," she corrected automatically while she pushed down her gag reflex. Great, not only had the two of them probably traumatized the young boy for life, and herself by proxy, it meant they were back to sleeping together. As much as she didn't want it to happen, it looked as though JJ would be a big part of their lives once again.

"Lucy, why weren't they wearing their jammies?" Henry asked innocently. "Mommy always makes me put on my jammies when I go to bed. See?" He puffed his chest out so she could see his Spiderman pajamas better.

"Um, sometimes grownups get really warm when they sleep, Henry, and when that happens they take their PJ's off." It wasn't the best explanation in the world, but she was still thrown by the whole thing. Let him ask her dad or JJ later on if he needed a better explanation. "How about we go downstairs and watch Sunday morning cartoons?" She asked him, changing the subject. Henry nodded eagerly as she dragged herself out of bed. As soon as she was in an upright position, he grabbed her hand and practically pushed her down the stairs.

xxxxxxxxxx

JJ rolled over in bed and momentarily froze when she felt a strong arm wrap around her stomach; it took her a moment to remember she was at Rossi's cabin…and in his bed to be exact, and the arm that was now pulling her from her warm and comfy spot belonged to her lover. When she'd initially accepted his invitation to the cabin for the weekend, she'd assumed they would spend much of the time getting to know each other again, but the moment he'd opened the front door for her and Henry the previous day, she knew that the flames of love and passion were still there for both of them and, after the kids had gone to bed the previous night, they'd fanned those flames into something much bigger.

"Mmmmm, can we just stay like this forever?" Dave rumbled in her ear as he kissed the outer shell of it.

"I think at some point our kids are going to wonder where we are," JJ replied back with a smile. "In fact, I'm surprised your cabin is still standing since it's after nine and Henry _has _to be up by now." She gently pulled away from him and reluctantly got out of their warm and comfortable cocoon. As she searched the floor for her pajamas, Dave watched from the bed.

"I could get used to this view," he told her with a grin.

"Very funny, old man. Now help me find my top," she ordered.

As much as he didn't want her covering her perfect chest, Dave saw the wisdom in not scarring their kids for life and he joined the search for the elusive pajama shirt. "Found it," he said as he grabbed her tank top off of a lampshade. She took it from him, pulled it on over her head and then slid into her pajama pants. As she tied the drawstring waist, she tossed Dave his pajama bottoms.

A minute later, the happy couple emerged from the bedroom and made their way to the first floor. They went into the great room and found Lucy asleep on the sofa while Henry drew pictures with his crayons and construction paper on the floor. Sunday morning cartoons played in the background.

"Hey baby, why didn't you wake me?" JJ said softly as she sat down in one of the lounge chairs.

"Hi mommy, I drawed this for you!" Henry said as jumped up and gave her a hug and a piece of paper. "See, it's Dave and Lucy and you and me! And the sun is out, just like it is now!" He told her, her question forgotten. "Mommy, can we go play outside?"

"How about I make us some pancakes for breakfast and then we'll go play outside?" Dave suggested. Henry nodded enthusiastically. "Wanna help me make 'em?" The little boy nodded again and then scampered off to help Dave cook brunch.

xxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, after everyone had filled their bellies with generous helpings of Dave's famous pancakes, which he made into smiley faces for Lucy and Henry, the four of them were on the front lawn of the cabin doing various things. Dave was raking up numerous leaves and branches that had fallen during a recent windstorm and Lucy was half-heartedly helping him, while Henry was running around the yard kicking his small soccer ball and JJ was sitting in a lawn chair watching him and trying to read a book at the same time. Things were peaceful for awhile until Henry kicked his soccer ball too hard and it rolled across the lawn and onto the shoulder of the rural county highway that ran in front of the cabin. Without thinking the little boy began to chase it.

"Henry, NO!" JJ yelled as she leapt from her chair and chased after her son. Dave and Lucy, who were alerted to the potential danger by JJ's scream, also chased after him, but they were farther behind. Thankfully the ball stopped before actually going into the highway, but it rolled close to the edge of it. Henry picked up the ball and when he turned to head back to the lawn, he was surprised to see his angry mother running up behind him.

"Henry William Jareau!" JJ shouted as she marched Henry back to the cabin, holding tightly to his free hand. "How many times have we talked about running into the street? How many times have I told you to always LOOK BOTH WAYS before even going NEAR the street? You could have been KILLED!" As images of her son's mangled body appeared in her head, JJ did what parents throughout the ages have done in the same situation; she reached down and swatted his butt two times. Henry immediately started to cry, but before JJ could yell at him further, Lucy was standing between her and her son.

"How DARE you hit him?" She yelled at the older woman while moving Henry further behind her, as if to protect him.

"I didn't hit him," JJ snapped, still feeling the adrenaline and fear coursing through her body. "I spanked him and I did it in order to make a point."

"And what point is that?" Lucy yelled, "What, that it's okay to use physical violence as long as you're making a point?"

JJ took a deep breath and really looked at the teen standing in front of her; Lucy was so angry she was shaking, her hands were bunched into fists, and she looked as though she could shoot fire from her eyes. As she calmed down, JJ realized the situation had less to do with the two swats she'd just given her son and more to do with what Lucy's mother had done to her. She knew she had to be careful with her reaction to the teen, otherwise their entire relationship could be damaged even more than it already was, but she also knew she had to get Henry out of the picture before the swats became more traumatic to him than they already were.

JJ shifted her gaze to her son and said, in a much calmer voice, "Henry, go inside; go wait for us in the great room."

Still sniffling from both the swats his mother had given him and her yelling, Henry started to argue. "Mommy, I wanna-"

"Henry, go inside," she repeated. "I love you honey, but I need to talk to Lucy right now."

Even though he was young, Henry could tell by everyone's mood that it was in his best interest to follow his mother's orders, so he ran back to the house and let himself in the front door.

Dave, who was standing off to the side, knew he had to let the two women work this out between themselves, so he remained where he was; if he needed to get involved he would, but for now he would stay out of it.

Once Henry was out of earshot, JJ turned back to Lucy, "I did _not_ use physical violence with Henry, I gave him two swats so he would remember to never run out into the street again."

"Sure, it's two swats _this _time, but what about the next? It always _starts _with a couple of swats but then it quickly goes to something much worse! A couple of swats suddenly turns into a full-fledged spanking, or a beating and then suddenly you're chasing Henry around the house and he's hiding from you so you won't hurt him again. A couple of swats turns into you studying his body, deciding where you can hit him so it won't leave a visible mark! A few swats turns into unbelievable pain and bruises that don't heal for weeks! No one ever starts out giving their kids a horrendous beating, but that's what it turns into!"

Both Dave and JJ's hearts both broke a little while Lucy spoke; they both knew she wasn't talking about Henry anymore, she was talking about herself and the experiences she had while living with and visiting her mother. Dave moved closer to his daughter so he could be there for her, both physically and emotionally, but he still let JJ take the lead.

"That is _not_ me Lucy! I would rather die than hurt Henry and I would kill anyone who did!"

"No! I SAW you hit him! You can't DO that! Right now he still loves you and trusts you and he knows that you love him beyond measure, but if you keep hitting him, he's going to lose that love and trust of you! He's going to start to fear you! He's going to dread seeing you and hearing your voice!" Lucy shouted in a high pitched voice as tears began to well up in her eyes. "You don't know what it's like! You have no idea what it feels like to have the one person who is supposed to love you, no matter what, purposely hurt you! To know that they _like_ hurting you! You've never had to hide from someone you love in order to stay safe!"

"And neither has Henry and he _never _will!" JJ told her firmly but lovingly. "Lucy, what your mother did to you was wrong and it was wrong on many levels! Mother's aren't supposed to be like that. You're right, they're supposed to make you feel safe, they're supposed to put your needs above theirs and they're supposed to love you unconditionally and I do that for Henry. The _only_ reason I swatted him today was to firmly implant the rule about not running into the street into his brain, otherwise I never would have done it."

Lucy studied the woman through her tears and saw genuine love and sadness in her eyes, and she finally nodded. "I know," she said. "I know you would never purposely hurt him…you're a good mom."

JJ gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you Lucy."

"So what's wrong with me?"

"What?" JJ asked, unsure of what the girl was asking her.

"You're a mom…you don't hurt your son, you make him feel safe and wanted and _loved, _so why couldn't my mom do that for me?" She asked, crying harder. "What is it about me that made it so easy for my mom to hurt me? To hate me? Why am I so unlovable? Do I give off some kind of vibe or something? Is there something wrong with me?"

Dave took a step forward, intending to pull his daughter into his embrace, but JJ beat him to the punch. Without thinking, she pulled the teen into a tight hug and, to her surprise, Lucy let her. "There is NOTHING wrong with you, Lucy! Any mother should be proud to call her your daughter! There is something wrong with HER! You are a great kid and you are very lovable! You deserve better than what you got, Lucy; no child should ever be afraid of their mother and no child should ever suffer the pain and fear that you did under her. What happened to you is not your fault, it's hers. Got it?" JJ felt the teen nod slightly into her shoulder.

Dave, who was still standing a little off to the side, looked at JJ over his daughter's head and mouthed, 'Thank you.' After hearing Lucy's tearful accusations and questions, he was practically in tears himself, but he shook them off because he knew he needed to be strong for her. He also had to talk himself out of seeking out his ex-wife and slowly killing her.

Another minute passed and Lucy slowly pulled out of JJ's embrace. "I think we need to get back to the cabin," the older woman told her. "I need to talk to Henry and make sure he's okay, but I also think the three of us should talk about this more, all right?"

Lucy nodded; as much as she didn't want to get into what had happened to her at her mother's hand, she knew it was inevitable. She tried pulling into herself in order to gear up for the upcoming discussion but JJ and her dad wouldn't let her. Instead, JJ took one of her hands and her dad took the other and she walked back to the cabin feeling safe and loved.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN 2: Be sure to check out the CCOAC fourm for this week's featured Author of the Week, ficdirectory! ** _


	24. Chapter 24

_Anyone But You-Chapter 23_

***Blows the dust off of the story* Wow, I did not mean to go so long without updating, but I hit a block on this story. This story arc came to me a few days ago, but I still have massive writer's block with this story. If anyone has ideas, or things they want to see here, shoot me a PM or email. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, alerted and favorited this story**!

* * *

><p>Another month passed and the Rossi and Jareau families spent much more time together. Dave and JJ were slowly getting their relationship on track and, while Lucy and JJ had made up, the teen still wasn't a hundred percent comfortable with the woman, but she was getting there. After the weekend the family had spent at the cabin, things had gotten much better for all of them. Most nights, JJ and Henry came to the Rossi house for dinner, and the other nights, Lucy and Dave went to their place. They had spent another weekend at the cabin and things had gone much smoother and everyone had had fun. It helped that the weather had cooperated and the four of them were able to spend more time outdoors.<p>

Lucy had also opened up a bit after her breakdown with JJ. The three of them had gone back inside, gotten Henry set up with a DVD and then talked over hot cocoa. They were shocked to hear the details of the abuse that had taken place there with Lucy's mother and, as the teen spoke, both adults had to blink back tears. Dave, in particular, was horrified when his daughter had told them about her mother chasing her around the house in a drunken rage, hitting her with anything she could get her hands on and he nearly wept when she told him she'd slept in the guestroom closet so her mother wouldn't find her. It made him want to murder Angela with his bare hands.

Two weeks after their weekend at the cabin, Lucy sat her dad down to talk to him about his work. She let him know that, while she appreciated him giving up his career for him, she could tell he was going stir-crazy in the house and she pretty much talked him into going back to the BAU. Dave was hesitant to do so at first, but both he and Lucy invited Hotch over for dinner one night to discuss it with him, and the Unit Chief was able to work out an arrangement so Dave could work at the office from 9:00am-3:00pm, and then he could work from home for the rest of the day. He also would stay back at headquarters with Garcia while the rest of the team travelled, which meant he could be drop Lucy off at school in the mornings on his way to work and then pick her up on the way home. It was an arrangement that worked for everyone including Hotch, who had noticed that his agents had been busier since Dave had retired.

Everything was going great until one event knocked them backwards a bit.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dave was looking out of his office window at the new FBI recruits when the ringing of his cell phone pulled him from his reverie. He sat up straight as he answered it. "Rossi."

"Dave, it's Jimmy."

"Hey Jimmy, what's up? Oh, before I forget, I got hockey tickets for Friday night. It'll be you, me, Lucy, JJ and Henry."

"Sounds great but, unfortunately, this isn't a social call," Jimmy told him.

"Oh?" Dave asked, confused.

"I have Lucy in my office."

"Damn," he said softly, his voice dripping with disappointment. "What did she do now?"

"It seems that most of the girls in the sophomore class staged a small demonstration today. Before fourth period, they changed out of their uniforms and into more…risqué outfits…outfits that are definitely against the dress code."

"Shit, that means suspension, right?"

"Just for the rest of the day," Jimmy responded. "Look Dave, the girls reacted to a comment that one of the nuns made to a female student. I'm not quite sure what happened, but what Lucy did really isn't that big of a deal."

"She's fucking suspended _again_, Jimmy! I'd say this is a huge deal!" Dave said as his disappointment changed to anger. It had been months since Lucy had been in trouble at school and he'd hoped that with their new relationship, she would have felt confident enough to talk to him before doing something stupid. Apparently that wasn't the case and it frustrated the hell out of him.

"But the suspension isn't going on her record and, again, she's not the only one involved in this," the priest reminded him. "Look Dave, I have to go, I have about twenty more parents to call but take it easy on her, okay."

"Yeah, that's NOT going to happen Jimmy," he told him. "I'll be there in half an hour."

"Okay, I'll make sure she's waiting out front in the usual place," Jimmy said before he disconnected the call.

Dave popped his head into Hotch's office to let him know he was leaving and then trekked down to JJ's office. "Hey," he said as he knocked gently on her open door.

"Hey, are you heading to lunch?" JJ asked, frowning at the clock. It was only eleven-thirty and they usually ate a bit later in the day, so she wasn't ready yet.

"No," he replied with a sigh. "Lucy got suspended again; I have to go pick her up."

"Oh Dave," JJ said in sympathy. He'd told her how he thought that his being more available for Lucy would cure her of her school mischief and she could see the hurt and disappointment on his face. "I'm so sorry."

"I really thought she was done with all of her antics," he said.

"What did she do?" JJ asked but at that moment her desk phone rang. "Shoot, I have to take this. Do you still want Henry and I to come over for dinner tonight?"

"Definitely. I'm taking the rest of the day off, so come over when you're done with work." JJ nodded at the instructions as she answered her phone.

On the thirty minute drive to the school, Dave's emotions seesawed between disappointment and anger as he thought about his daughter's latest suspension. After all he'd done to help her, she was back to pulling this shit again? Did she really still think she had to act out in order to get his attention? Plus, if she kept getting suspended, she would never get into college. Sure, _this one_ wouldn't go on her record, but what about the next? Or the ones before?

He finally pulled into the parking lot and saw his daughter sitting with about ten other girls. As she stood up, he got a look of the outfit she'd chosen to wear in her protest and his anger ratcheted up a few notches. She was wearing a denim mini skirt, a red tank top, high heels and her jacket, but he was fairly certain she didn't wear her jacket while in school. It was an outfit that left _very_ little to the imagination and it was one that he would never let her out of the house in, and she damn well knew it. It was little comfort to him that many of the other girls were dressed in even skimpier outfits.

Lucy approached the car, opened the front door and got in. She put her book bag on the floor and tried to evaluate her dad's mood. This whole 'caring and attentive father' thing was still new to her and she had no idea how he would react to this event. "Hi dad," she said hesitantly.

"Lucy," he said tightly. The teen could tell he was royally pissed, so she didn't attempt conversation. The SUV stayed deadly silent until they were a few miles from home.

"Do you remember what my conditions were when you asked if you could be in the school musical?" He asked as they entered their neighborhood.

Lucy racked her brain to remember that night and once she did, she looked at her father in horror. "Yes, but-"

"No buts," Dave interrupted. "I told you that if you got into ANY trouble at school, you were done."

"But dad! You don't understand! Sister Rose said-"

"I don't care what she said!" He yelled as he pulled the car into their garage. "We had a deal! God Lucy, you can't keep getting into trouble like this! You've been suspended AGAIN!"

"I know, but you can't make me quit the play, dad, you just can't!" She begged. "Opening night is in three weeks!"

"Tough, you broke our deal so you'd better let the drama teacher know that your understudy will have to take over your role, because you're done."

"This is SO unfair!" Lucy screeched as tear slid down her cheeks.

"No, what's unfair is that you purposely broke school rules, you wore an outfit you knew I would never let you wear and you were suspended yet again!" He yelled. "I'm not going to change my mind about this Lucy, so either you let your drama teacher know that you have to quit the play, or I'll let Jimmy know, but it's happening."

"But I've put _months _of work in on my part!"

"I know you have and I'm sorry you think it's unfair, but my mind is made up," he said firmly. "Also, I want you in your room for the rest of the day; you can work on the stuff you'll missing today."

"I can't believe you're doing this to me; I hate you!" Lucy yelled as she ran into the house. As he entered the kitchen, he heard the loud slam of her bedroom door and sighed. While he knew he was right in his decision, he felt as if they had taken a giant step backward in their relationship.


	25. Chapter 25

_Anyone But You-Chapter 25_

**~The next chapter is pretty much written, I just have to polish it up and edit it. It should be up sometime this weekend.**

* * *

><p>As it turned out, the team was pulled into a local case later that afternoon, so JJ and Henry did not come for dinner that night. Since the case seemed to be fairly minor, or as minor as it could get and still need BAU involvement, Hotch didn't call Dave back in so he and Lucy had a tense and silent dinner together. As soon as supper ended, Lucy bolted back up to her bedroom and she stayed there for the rest of the night. Dave, who was still angry at her actions, let her have the time by herself without argument.<p>

The next morning was just as bad for both members of the Rossi household. While a good night's sleep sometimes helps clarify a situation and bring calmer heads to a discussion, neither of them had slept well and both were still just as pissed as they had been the previous day, if not worse. Dave had lain awake in anger, thinking about his daughter's antics and how she had gotten into trouble yet _again._ He didn't care if this current suspension wouldn't show up on her records, it was time for her to learn that she had to follow the rules and if she had to miss out on the musical in order to learn that lesson, then that was what was going to happen.

Lucy had also lain awake in anger, thinking about the unfairness of her punishment. She was frustrated beyond belief that her father hadn't tried listening to her side of the story; no, instead he had reverted back to the old, 'uncaring and uninvolved ' father he had been for most of her life and he'd laid out the consequences in a dictatorial fashion. He was also beyond crazy if he thought she was going to walk away from the musical with less than three weeks before the first production! With all of the time and effort she'd put into it, it would take a freaking nuclear bomb to keep her away from the theater on opening night!

In order to clear her head, Lucy got up early and went for a morning run; it was something she tried to do at least once a week, but the allure of her snooze button usually prevented her from getting out of bed in time to do it before school. Today, however, it wasn't a problem since she'd barely slept. After getting dressed, she went down the stairs, breezed by her father and out the door. Dave, who had been in the kitchen for hours, watched her leave without saying a word.

Upon her return thirty minutes later, Lucy saw that her dad was busy talking on his cell phone and he was discussing some case with Hotch. She scurried up the stairs without a word and ran into her bathroom where she quickly stripped and jumped into the hottest shower she could stand. She stayed under the spray until it was cold and then got out and began getting ready for the school day. About five minutes after she ended her shower, her dad got into his and she smiled bitterly when she heard him shout a loud string of obscenities when the cold water hit his back.

Another half hour passed before Lucy made her way to the first floor. Dave was back in his place at the kitchen table, this time looking much grumpier after his cold shower. Once again, the teen didn't acknowledge him, but instead grabbed a granola bar out of the box on the counter and a bottle of water from the fridge and shoved them into her book bag. Dave, seeing she was ready to leave, grabbed his briefcase and began rooting around for his keys on the counter. He found them, but was surprised when he looked up and saw his daughter leaving the house out of the front door.

"I'm taking the Metro today," she told him when she saw his puzzled look; those were the first words she'd spoken to him since the previous afternoon and she didn't plan on saying much more.

"No, you're not," he told her as he glanced at his watch. "Your long shower this morning put you behind schedule; if you take the Metro in to the city, you'll be late for school and I don't want you missing any more of it. Now come on, you're riding with me today, just like we normally do it." With that, he stepped aside so she could go past him and into the garage, which she did, but she shot him a glare as she walked past him.

The ride into the heart of Washington DC was tense and quiet. Lately, their car rides had involved conversation and music, but today it was just silence and bad feelings. As he pulled up to the school, Dave broke the silence. "Are you going to tell your drama teacher you're leaving the play, or am I going to have to call Father Jimmy?" He felt a pang of regret when she looked at him and he saw tears in her eyes; the last thing he wanted to do was send her off to face the day while she was that upset, but before he could say anything else, she jumped out of the car and slammed the door behind her.

As Lucy entered the school building, she was barely able to blink back her tears; there was no way she would be able to sit through homeroom without crying but she knew if she skipped it, she would be in even _more _trouble with her dad. As she walked down the hallway, she saw where she could go and not get into trouble.

"Hi," she said to the office receptionist, "Is Father Davidson available?" The receptionist, who knew Lucy was the principal's goddaughter, smiled and said, "Let me ask him." She called him, got an affirmative answer and sent the teen into his office.

"What can I do for you, Lucy?" He asked as he signed a piece of paper at his desk. She didn't say anything and, when he looked up, he could see she was upset. "What's wrong, Luce?" He asked as he got up and approached her.

"It's dad," she said as the tears finally spilled onto her cheeks. "He…he…" she couldn't say anything else as she began crying in earnest. Jimmy simply pulled her into his arms and hugged her while she cried. After she settled down a little, she managed to tell him how her father hadn't let her explain why she had been suspended; he'd just told her she would have to quit the play. As Jimmy heard the story, his expression darkened and he just shook his head. It was bad enough that his friend hadn't even listened to his daughter, but to send her to school this upset? He should have known better.

"Okay," he said as his goddaughter wiped her face with a tissue and blew her nose. "Here's what we're going to do. First, you're not going to quit the musical so don't say anything to Mr. Collins."

"But dad said-"

"Never mind what your father said," Jimmy told her. "If he had bothered to listen to your side of the story, he would have realized that what you girls did yesterday was more of a political protest; Sister Rose was wrong in what she said and I shouldn't have suspended any of you. I plan on telling him all of that, and more, when I call him in a few minutes."

Lucy sniffed, "Okay," she said, not really believing he would be able to fix everything, but hoping he could.

"Second, homeroom is over but I'll make sure you're not marked absent and I'll write you a note for your first period class so you don't get in trouble for being late; I believe you have study hall, right?" Lucy nodded. "Okay, I'll give you fifteen minutes on your hall pass so you can get cleaned up in the bathroom." He quickly scribbled out both a note for the study hall moderator, and a hall pass.

"Thanks Father Jimmy," she said tearfully as he handed them to her.

He pulled her into a final hug and said, "Don't worry Luce, we'll get this all straightened out."

She gave a little nod and then left the office. As soon as the door closed behind her, he picked up his cell phone, hit number two on the speed dial and waited for his best friend to pick up. Unfortunately, the call went straight to voicemail, so Jimmy wasn't able to read the riot act to his best friend. He tried again a couple of hours later and was again routed to his voicemail. Finally, after the third try, he decided to get someone else involved.

"Jareau," JJ greeted as she answered her phone.

"JJ, it's Jimmy Davidson," he said.

"Father Jimmy, how are you? Is everything all right?" JJ asked worriedly, wondering why the priest was calling her and not Dave.

"Other than my best friend acting like a complete idiot, everything is fine. Do you have a minute?"

xxxxxxxxxx

JJ had Garcia monitor the BAU doors and as soon as Dave swiped his access card to open them, she called her best friend. Dave had just sat down at his desk when JJ burst into his office without knocking.

"God, you're a sight for sore eyes," he said. "Interviewing death row inmates is the worst; you'd think with my seniority I could get out of doing it but no, Hotch is way too into 'fairness for everyone'."

"Dave, we need to talk," she said as she stood in front of his desk.

"What's wrong?" He could tell she was angry about something but, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.

"I want you to know that I'm coming to you right now as your lover, _not _as a co-worker and I normally wouldn't do this in the office, but this issue needs to be resolved quickly and-"

"JJ, just tell me what's wrong!" He ordered.

She took a deep breath. "Are you a moron? Seriously, are you the biggest idiot who has ever roamed the earth?"

"What the hell-" he started, but the irate woman in front of him wouldn't let him get any further.

"Seriously, after all of the work you've done to improve your relationship with your daughter, you're going to throw it all away over a one day suspension?" She screeched.

"JJ-" he tried again, but she continued to rant over his voice.

"She's been making great strides lately, both with her grades and her behavior, she's been working on improving her relationship with you and she's been watching Henry on Friday nights for us so we can go out, and this is how you repay her?" She yelled. "Did you even bother to hear her side of what happened yesterday? Did you let her explain _why_ she wore those clothes? Did you follow up with Father Jimmy, or did you just lay down the law like you have in the past? Because, I gotta tell you Dave, I heard an enlightening story from Jimmy today and you come off as an asshole in it!"

"Maybe I didn't hear her out," Dave said angrily as he tried to defend himself, "But she knew the rules and she broke them anyway!"

"But did you even LISTEN to her side of it?" JJ asked loudly. "Because she had a very valid reason for taking part in the demonstration; all of the girls did."

"No," Dave admitted as he realized he might be in the wrong. "I guess I just saw red; I just assumed she'd pulled another stupid stunt. What did Jimmy tell you?"

"Apparently," JJ said as she sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk, "one of the girls in the class had gotten a new dress and she was showing her friends a picture of her wearing it. They were passing around the cell phone before class and the nun, Sister Rose, got a hold of it. The outfit, which was something you would have no problem letting Lucy wear, was a red dress and the girl had paired it with some open toed shoes and a sheer wrap. Anyway, the nun began lecturing the girls; she told them that the outfit was completely inappropriate and it would turn boys into lustful animals. She said that only slutty girls would wear something like that and, if anything bad happened to them while wearing it, it would be their own faults."

"Shit," Dave breathed, wondering if he had gone back in time to the 1950's.

"So Lucy asked for clarification of that statement. She asked if Sister Rose meant rape," JJ told him. "And the nun said yes, that a girl was just asking to be raped wearing something like that."

"Apparently Lucy and the other girls tried debating the issue, telling the nun that no one had the right to force sex on a woman, no matter what she wears, but the nun wouldn't hear them out. Instead, she threatened them all with detention before beginning her history lesson."

"Why didn't the girls go to Jimmy if they were that upset about it?" Dave asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"He was out of town for the day," JJ replied. "They went to the assistant principal, but he stood firm with Sister Rose. They staged their clothing demonstration yesterday in order to show that women have the right to wear whatever they want; some of the girls held up small signs that said 'No means NO!' But they did it quietly and respectfully."

"Yeah, they did," he agreed.

"And Jimmy realizes now that he should have checked into the situation before suspending the girls."

"And I should have checked into it before laying down the law with Lucy," Dave sighed. Damn, he'd fucked up with her _again_! How long would it take before he finally got it right with his daughter? "I guess I owe Lucy a pretty big apology, especially since, after hearing the whole story, I'm proud of her actions."

"I would say that you do," JJ said in a nicer tone; she'd expected more of an argument from her lover and she was relieved he'd changed his mind so quickly.

"So how far back to you think I've set our relationship?" He asked. "Am I THE worst father on the planet, or am I just in the top ten?"

"You're a great dad, Dave," JJ said. "You've come a long way in the past few months and I'm sure Lucy will forgive you."

"I hope you're right," he said as he grabbed his keys from the desk and stood up. "She should be home by now, so I'm going to head there. You and Henry are still coming for dinner, right?"

"We'll be there by six," she confirmed. "And Dave, you know she's going to be angry, right? You're probably going to have to let her yell at you for a little while; can you do that?"

He nodded, "She deserves to vent her frustration at me."

"Okay then, I'll see you in a few hours." With that, JJ left the office and Dave followed close behind her. He knew that the longer he let the issue linger, the madder Lucy would be and he wanted to take care of things as soon as possible.


	26. Chapter 26

_Anyone But You-Chapter 26_

**Sorry for the delay! I know I said I would have this up earlier, but my computer crashed as I was editing the completed chapter and I lost the whole thing. **

* * *

><p>As Lucy left the Metro station, she dreaded going home. She was tired, she had a headache, and she just wanted to avoid her dad for the rest of her life, but she didn't see that happening. She was also worried about the school musical. If her godfather couldn't get her father to change his mind, then the months of work she'd put in it would be for naught, not to mention the understudy would have to rehearse intensely for her role. No, it would take a freaking national emergency to keep her from taking the stage on opening night.<p>

She gave a sigh as she walked up the front path to the house. If she was lucky, she'd be able to stay in her room all night because she had _no_ desire to be anywhere near her dad. Her hopes were dashed when she opened the front door and found her father sitting on the sofa in the living room, apparently waiting for her. It made her long for the old days when she seldom saw him at all; why couldn't he just leave her alone? Did he want to make her feel like crap again? Because she had trouble holding back her tears for most of the morning and she really didn't want that to happen again tonight.

She didn't acknowledge him as she closed the door behind her. Without a word, she turned around and headed for the stairs but as soon as her foot hit the first one, her dad spoke.

"We need to talk, Luce," he said gently as he stood up.

The teen turned around and faced him. "No, we really don't dad; I want to go up and start my geometry homework while it's still fresh in my mind. Plus, I know you're pissed at me, but I'm mad at you too and I'm afraid that if I talk to you now, I'll just get into more trouble."

Dave just stared at her for a moment as he weighed his options. "Okay, we'll talk later," he finally said. "Any ideas for dinner tonight? JJ and Henry are coming over, so it should be something kid friendly."

Lucy shrugged, "I honestly don't care; I'm not hungry and I have a lot of things to do, so I'm probably going to skip supper." With that, she walked up the stairs and into her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her.

As he heard her bedroom door close, Dave let out a sigh of both defeat and frustration. 'That didn't go well,' he thought to himself. The 'old Dave,' the one who was self-absorbed and didn't pay attention to his daughters actions, wouldn't have cared that she was upset, nor would he ever have tried apologizing to her, but he wasn't the 'old Dave, he was the 'new and improved super Dave' and he needed to somehow make things right with her. He also needed to figure out a way to get her do eat dinner later because if she thought he was going to let her skip a meal, she was in for a surprise but he didn't want to add fire to their current argument. He thought for a minute and then grabbed his cell phone.

"Hey Jayje, do you mind stopping at Five Guys on your way over?"

xxxxxxxxxx

An hour later, Lucy was in her room finishing her geometry assignment when she smelled it; burgers and fries from Five Guys. 'Dad must think he can lure me downstairs with some of my favorite food,' she thought. 'Well it's not going to work.' Her plan to stay stubbornly in her room may have worked if she hadn't been so hungry; she'd still been upset at lunchtime, so she hadn't eaten much of the cafeteria food and, as a result, her stomach had started grumbling about thirty minutes prior to smelling the yummy food.

Five minutes later, her hunger finally won out and she started down the stairs to the first floor. As her foot hit the floor, she heard JJ helping Henry wash his hands in the bathroom and her dad talking on the phone in the study. 'Bingo!' She thought as she quietly crept into the kitchen. She grabbed her burger and a handful of fries from the paper bag, put them on a paper plate and then left the kitchen. She had just put her foot on the stairs to go back up to the second floor, when a deep voice rumbled, "Freeze!"

Her dad's order stopped her in her tracks. "You're crazy if you think I'm going to let you take your dinner up to your room tonight," he continued. "JJ and Henry are here and we're all going to eat dinner together, capicse?"

JJ and Henry left the bathroom in time to see the exchange between father and daughter and JJ could see the mutinous expression on Lucy's face. With a groan, she entered the fracas.

"Lucy, what your father meant to say was that Henry and I have been looking forward to seeing the two of you and we would be disappointed if you didn't eat with us."

"Fine," the teen said, knowing she didn't really have a choice about where she ate her dinner.

Henry grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward the kitchen. "We got hangaburgers and fries, Luce! And then mommy stopped at another place and got us all milkshakes!"

"Smooth Dave, real smooth," JJ muttered as she brushed past him and into the kitchen.

Dinner was less tense that night, due largely in part to Henry's happy chatter. He told them about his new daycare teacher, the finger paints she let them use, and how a family of birds had built a nest right in front of the daycare window. All in all, he'd had a good day and his cheerfulness had managed to make the stressful dinner bearable. Unfortunately for Lucy and Dave, Henry finished his dinner fairly quickly.

"I'm full, can I go watch TV, mommy?" He asked from his seat at the table.

JJ nodded, "You can turn on SpongeBob, okay?"

"Yay, SpongeBob!" Henry shouted as he got down from his chair and ran to the living room. With Henry gone, the kitchen was much quieter. The three of them ate in silence for a few minutes, until Dave tried talking to his daughter.

"Luce," he began, but the teen didn't let him get any farther.

"I'm done too," she said as she stood up and put her plate on the counter.

"You barely ate anything," JJ pointed out as she looked at the full plate near the sink.

"I'm not hungry," the teen said as she started to leave the room.

"Lucy, listen-" Dave tried again, but his daughter whirled around and glared at him.

"Why should I listen to you?" She asked rhetorically, her voice getting louder with each word. "You didn't listen to _me_! You're making me quit the musical without even hearing my side of the story, so why should I bother listening to _you_?" With that, she ran out of the room and up the nearby stairs. A moment later, everyone in the house heard the loud slam of her bedroom door.

"Well that's great," Dave said with a sigh as he got up from his chair. He grabbed the tinfoil from the drawer and wrapped up his daughter's plate of leftovers. "She won't even hear me out."

"You can't really blame her Dave," JJ said as she helped clear the table. "You yelled at her, you didn't let her explain her side of the situation, and you took away one of the most important things she has going on in her life right now. Did you expect her to be happy with you?"

"No but, in my defense, I had just gotten a call from her school letting me know she had been suspended _again_; I thought she had reverted back to her old behavior and it threw me for a loop."

"You have to fix this Dave," JJ said quietly. "You and Lucy can't fall back into your old patterns."

"I know," he said with a sigh. "I just have to figure out how to get her to listen to me."

"Let me talk to her and see if I can warm her up," JJ told him as she headed for the stairs. "Give me five minutes and then come up and knock on the door."

"Okay," he said in a cautious tone. "Good luck."

"Thanks," she said with a roll of her eyes. As she climbed the stairs, JJ wondered how she had somehow become the de facto mediator between Dave and his daughter.

When she got to the teen's room, she took a deep breath and knocked. "Who is it?" A voice asked.

"It's JJ," she responded, hoping Lucy would grant her entrance into her bedroom; she didn't want to enter uninvited, but she would if it meant restoring the fragile peace between the hard-headed teen and her equally hard-headed father.

"You can come in," Lucy said with a sigh; even though her relationship with the woman had improved since she'd told Dave about the abuse, she still wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with her and she wished she would leave her alone. JJ opened the door and found the teen curled up on her bed. "I don't wanna talk about dad or the musical, okay?"

"Okay," JJ said as she sat down on the bed next to the teen. Lucy sat up so her back was resting against the headboard and stared at the older woman, waiting for her to start.

JJ, for her part, had no idea what to talk about; obviously she had come up to talk to Lucy about both of her banned topics and now she was scrambling for a conversation starter. "I-I was wondering if Henry and I could come with you to the animal shelter sometime," she finally said.

"Really?" Lucy asked. "You want to help with the dogs?" JJ nodded. "Why?"

"Henry's been begging me to get a dog; he misses Mudgie when we're not here. Anyway, I thought if I brought him in and had him help bathe, feed and walk the dogs, he'd see how much work they are and be happy having Mudgie as a part time dog. Plus, he really loves you and wants to spend more time with you."

"Aw, I love him too," Lucy said with a smile. "He's a great kid." They talked about Henry and dogs for a few more minutes and then they fell into a comfortable silence.

"You know you have to talk to your dad, Luce," JJ finally said. She saw the girl open her mouth to argue, but she plowed ahead before she could speak. "Do you really want things to go back to what they were? You and your dad have worked too hard on your relationship to have it crumble."

"But he wouldn't listen to me!" She protested. "He just laid down the law like he always does!"

"I'm listening now, Peanut," Dave said from the doorway.

"Yeah, but you're only listening now because Father Jimmy probably called and reamed you a new one."

"Actually, Jimmy couldn't get a hold of me, so he called JJ and _she _reamed me a new one," he told her.

"Not helping, Dave," JJ muttered as she saw a look of anger come over the teen's face.

"Look Luce," he said with a sigh as he entered her bedroom. "I'm not going to make you quit the musical, I shouldn't even have threatened to take away something you've worked so hard at."

"No, you shouldn't have," Lucy said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"But you could have talked to me about what you were planning to do at school," he told her. "Part of the reason I reacted the way I did was because I was shocked at what you did and what you were wearing; a part of me thought you were reverting back to your old ways."

"I suppose I could have given you a head's up," the teen admitted grudgingly. Dave waited for the rest of it, for the yelling and the crying, but there was none.

"Well, anyway," Dave said after a few minutes of silence, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for not listening to you." With that he left the room.

"Henry and I are going to head out as well," JJ said, a bit annoyed that Lucy had pretty much ignored her father. Sure, the kid had a right to be angry, but Dave had been trying and she could have given a little effort on her part.

"Have a good night," Lucy said as she picked up a book and began to read. Two hours later, after finishing her english and history homework, she both heard and felt her stomach rumble. She tried to ignore her hungry feelings, but all she could think of was the food she'd left on her dinner plate. She really didn't want to go down to the first floor, since her dad was still down there and she ran the risk of having to talk to him, but she was _really _hungry.

As she tried to take her mind off of her hunger, she looked around her newly re-decorated room and began to feel some of her anger toward her dad melt away as she remembered the fun they had re-painting both her bedroom and her bathroom. Sure, he'd screwed up the previous day but he'd apologized and he wasn't making her quit the play, so things weren't as bad as they could be. As she thought about it, she began to feel bad about not being nicer to him when he came to try and talk to her. Heck, just a few months previous, he wouldn't have done that at all; no, he would've just stood by his decision, no matter how wrong it was and he _never _would have apologized to her! Plus, JJ had a point, she _didn't _want things to go back to what they were; she had a much better relationship with her dad now and she wanted to keep it that way.

A loud grumble from her stomach pulled her from her reverie and she decided that she _had _to eat something, otherwise she wouldn't be able to sleep. She got up from her bed and made her way into the kitchen, where she began rummaging through the cabinets, looking for something to eat.

"I saved your dinner," a deep voice said behind her. Lucy jumped about a foot in the air when she heard this and spun around.

"God dad, you scared the heck out of me!" She said as she tried to slow her heart rate down.

"Sorry Peanut," Dave said as he moved to the fridge and pulled out her plate of leftovers. "Want me to heat these up for you?"

"Sure," Lucy said as she sat down at the breakfast bar. A minute later, her dad set the plate down in front of her.

"Bon appétit," he said and then stood back and watched her eat. He waited until she'd finished most of the meal before speaking again. "I really am sorry that I didn't hear you out, Luce."

Lucy set her remaining burger down on the plate and stared at it for a moment. "I know," she said, looking up at him. "And I'm sorry too; I guess I _could _have told you about our protest before it happened, but I was afraid you would try to stop it."

Dave shook his head, "I wouldn't have and the teacher had no right to say what she did; no woman ever asks to be harassed or assaulted, no matter what she's wearing. In fact, all of us in the PTA are meeting with Jimmy and the teacher tomorrow after school. We want to make sure that something like this never happens again."

"Really?" Not only was her dad not mad at her, he was going to her school to stand up for her!

Dave nodded, "Really. And I meant what I said upstairs, I'm not going to make you quit the musical, I shouldn't even have threatened that, nor should I have sent you in to school today when you were so upset."

"Wow, okay," she said, not sure of what else to say. She mulled her dad's multiple apologies over in her head while she munched on her fries.

"Wanna tell me what's going on in that head of yours, Peanut?" Dave asked as he saw the wheels turning in her mind.

"I just…I don't know, I guess after your reaction yesterday I…I thought things were going back to the way they were before," she stammered.

"Never," her dad said firmly. "I never want you to feel like you don't matter to me. I'm not perfect and I'll probably make more mistakes along the way, but you will always be my number one priority. Got it?"

Lucy nodded as she stood up. "I've got it."

"And I'll be sitting in the front row on the opening night of your play," he continued with a proud smile.

"I'll probably be too nervous to even see you," Lucy told him.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," he assured her. "So are we okay?"

Lucy thought for a second and then nodded her head. Sure, she could have held a grudge but she didn't want the anger and resentment hanging over them any longer. "We're good."

"Does that mean I'll have some hot water for my shower tomorrow?" Dave asked with a raised eyebrow.

The teen gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay Luce, I deserved it."

The teen smiled; a huge weight had been lifted from her and she was suddenly very tired. "I'd better get to bed." She walked over to Dave and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Night dad."

"Night Luce," he said as he gave her a hug. "I love you."

"Love you too, dad."

_**A/N 2: This will probably be the last update on this story for awhile, at least until April or May. I am NOT abandoning the story, but I am moving from the US to Asia in late March and I'll be busy planning the move and then getting acclimated to my new environment and job. I hope everyone sticks around for it!**_


	27. Chapter 27

***Blows the dust off of this story* Wow, so I never meant to go a year without updating this. I had planned on updating this more frequently but I was hit with a massive case of writer's block (not to mention my life has been a roller coaster for the past year). I think I know where I want to go with thsi story, so it should be updated more frequently. **

* * *

><p>The next couple of days were easier ones for Lucy and Dave. While they were both busy with school and work, the anger between them was gone and it made for a much more relaxed household. While he had returned to work, Dave had tried to cut his hours at the office so he could be home more for his daughter. He didn't travel with the team unless it was completely necessary and he tried to leave by three o'clock at least twice a week so he could be home when she arrived home from school and it was nice for both of them to be able to discuss their days. While their relationship was by no means perfect, it had improved greatly over the past few months and Dave was happy they had gotten through their first major incident still intact.<p>

Because their relationship had improved so much, Dave was surprised and concerned when, on the following Monday, Lucy burst through the front door and practically ran past him without saying a word. "Hey Peanut," he called out to her. "Is everything okay?"

"Gotta pee!" She yelled over her shoulder as she ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Once there, she took off her jacket and released the chocolate colored puppy she'd had hidden against her chest.

"Whew! That was close!" She said to the dog as he cautiously took a few steps and sniffed the carpeting. "Hey, it's okay little guy," she said gently as she stroked the top of his head. She could feel the skinny dog shake under her touch. "You're safe here. Sure, we'll have to keep you hidden from dad, but he usually doesn't come in here without an invitation." Years ago, when Lucy had first moved in with her dad, they'd had a discussion about respecting each other's privacy, especially after she had gone searching in his study for a pencil and had come across some gruesome crime scene pictures. As a result, she knew never to enter his office without his permission and he afforded her the same courtesy with her bedroom.

"Besides," she said as she picked him up and snuggled him again, "Dad likes dogs, so I think I'll eventually be able to talk him into getting one; it just might take awhile." She grabbed a fluffy throw pillow from the floor, set it on the bed and laid the dog on top of it. "We'll just have to keep you hidden until then."

She went into her bathroom, got some towels and then came back into her bedroom. "I'm going to make a little home for you in here," she told the puppy, as she opened the door to her large walk-in closet. She carefully spread the towels over and around another large pillow, thereby making a make-shift bed for the small animal. "You're safe here, little guy," she said as she opened her schoolbag. "I'm never going to let anyone hurt you again." As she pulled out two bowls, a water bottle, and numerous cans of dog food, she vowed to keep that promise, no matter what it took. She wanted to give the dog the feeling of safety she had finally come to feel in the past few months.

For the next few days, Lucy managed to keep the dog a secret from her dad. It helped that he was in the middle of an intense case at work and, while he still managed to keep somewhat regular hours, he was distracted. If he had been on his game, he would have realized that something was going on in his house, but it took until Thursday for him to notice anything was wrong and when he did, he noticed in a big way.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Three days after she brought the dog home, Lucy walked up to the front door of her house with a spring in her step; play rehearsal had gone well that afternoon, she had gotten an A on a test, her dad was going to make pizza for dinner, and she had an adorable puppy waiting to greet her in her bedroom.

She was actually surprised she had been able to hide the dog for so long. In the few months since her dad had become a 'new and improved, super dad,' he tended to notice nearly every variation in her routine, but he hadn't noticed any of them lately. In order to take the dog out in the morning, she told him she had started jogging. Now, anyone who knew her the tiniest bit knew that she HATED getting up in the morning and she usually hit snooze on her alarm clock as many times as she could without actually being late for school, but he had just accepted the new activity with a slight nod. He also hadn't noticed that she had been spending a lot of time in her room with the door shut over the past few days. Sure, before he learned about the abuse, before they had started to improve upon their relationship, she had spent a lot of time alone in her room, simply because she'd felt like he didn't want to spend time with her. Now, of course, she had been doing it so spend time with the puppy. Luckily, the dog didn't bark much, so he stayed quiet while she was downstairs eating supper with her father, but she didn't want to take any chances.

Smiling, she opened the front door to the house and stepped inside. The smile slid from her face when she saw her dad and the puppy sitting on the sofa. At her dad's feet was a very chewed up pair of leather loafers. Without warning, she felt a sense fear begin to well up in the pit of her stomach. Would he consider this big trouble? She had essentially been lying to him for the past three days, would he make her quit the play? Would he ground her? Would he not love her anymore? Would he hit her? She knew the last two fears that ran through her head were irrational ones. Sure, he might not like what she had done, but she knew that deep down, he would always love her. And, aside from a few swats when she was younger, her father had never hit her, that was always her mother's thing and she was pretty sure he wasn't going to start now, but she had been having nightmares about her mother lately and it made those irrational fears more real to her.

Dave had seen the fear flash across her face and he knew he had to be gentle with her. He'd been ready to read her the riot act for hiding the dog from him and lying to him for the last couple of days but he wasn't naive enough to think that the past few months of relative harmony between them had fixed years of abuse from her mother and neglect from him and he didn't want to cause a setback for her, so he changed his approach.

"Hi Lucy, how was your day?" He asked as he patted the puppy's head.

"Fine," she said carefully, looking at the dog who was in heaven with the attention he was receiving. Her dad sounded calm, but she knew from past experiences that when he was really angry, he sounded very calm and even...until he exploded. The problem was, she couldn't tell if he was angry calm or normal calm. "You're home early," she said, trying to assess his mood.

Dave nodded. "We wrapped the case this morning, so I ducked out early. Imagine my surprise when I came home and found a puppy using my favorite pair of Italian loafers as chew toys." Irritation had crept into his voice and he saw the look of fear intensify on his daughter's face. He wasn't sure just how angry he was. Sure, she'd lied to him for a couple of days, and she'd hidden a live animal in their house, but he liked dogs and he knew Lucy was crazy about them, so it wasn't a huge deal for him. No, what really irritated him was that she had been too afraid to ask him outright if she could have a dog. It showed him how much work they still had to do on their relationship.

"I'm so sorry, dad!" She exclaimed as she came further into the living room and sat down in an overstuffed chair next to the sofa. "I must not have shut my door tightly when I left this morning. I'll pay you back for your shoes, I promise! I'll do chores around here, or I'll-"

"You don't have to pay me back for the shoes, Luce," her dad interrupted. "Besides, they were custom made in Italy, so you would be a modern-day Cinderella if you had to do chores to work them off. No, I think you're missing the real question here. Why is there a dog in our house?"

The teen took a deep breath. "About a month ago, I was working at the animal shelter and the cops brought him in. If you can imagine, he was even skinnier than he is now! Anyway, the police had raided a crack house that had been run by one of the local gangs," she explained as she reached over to pet the dog. "They had this little guy out front keeping watch with a few other dogs. Dad, they had been starving him on purpose! They were starving him and beating him in order to make him mean!" Lucy had tears in her eyes as she said this and it didn't take a genius to see that she saw herself and what had happened to her in the dog.

"Okay, but why is he here?" Dave asked gently. "He's a cute puppy; I'm surprised no one has adopted him yet."

"People are afraid to!" She exclaimed indignantly. "The vets at the shelter checked him out and he's perfectly healthy, other than being underweight, but people hear that he was a former gang dog and they get scared."

Dave's brow furrowed. "Scared of what?" He asked.

"They're scared the dog will turn mean, even though the shelter's dog behaviorist said he's fine, and a lot of them are afraid that the gang members will come looking for him." Lucy teared up as she pet the dog even harder. "Last week there was a family that was close to adopting him. They'd played with him, taken him home for the night and their little boy had even given him a name. Then, just as they were about to fill out the adoption paperwork, they learned he was a former gang dog and they walked away from him! Like he was nothing!" With that, the teen picked up the dog and held him against her chest as she took his place on the couch.

"That sucks," her dad agreed, slipping into her vernacular, "But it's a no-kill shelter, right? He'll eventually be adopted."

The tears that had been standing in Lucy's eyes finally spilled over. "Yeah, they won't kill him but that doesn't mean he'll be okay! He hasn't been eating a whole lot or gaining as much weight as the vet would like and he's sad and scared all of the time. He doesn't bark and he flinches when people reach down to pet him. What kind of life is that for him?"

Dave remembered how the little dog had run into the kitchen and hidden under the table when he'd arrived home earlier that afternoon. The little guy had also flinched when he'd reached down to pick him up and it had taken him awhile to stop shaking in his arms. At the time he'd assumed that the dog was scared of him because he was a stranger, but now he realized the puppy had been abused pretty badly.

"Can we keep him dad? Pleeeeeease?" Lucy begged. She started speaking very quickly in order to try and convince him. "I figure since you're FBI, no gang members will dare to look for him here. He's really friendly and good with kids and the vet at the shelter thinks he'll start eating and become healthier if he has a forever home."

"So you want to keep him long-term then?" Dave clarified. "You don't just want to keep him until you can find a family to take him, you want to make this permanent?"

Lucy nodded vigorously, and continued to speak very quickly. "He won't be any trouble for you, dad," she promised. "I'll close your bedroom door every day before I leave for school so he won't chew up any more of your shoes. I'll take him for walks before and after school. I'll clean up his poop in the yard and I'll get a job and pay for his food and vet bills; you won't have to do a thing! I'll also-"

"Okay," Dave said, interrupting her litany of promises. "We can keep him-" The rest of Dave's sentence was cut off by a loud squeal of happiness from his daughter, followed by a ferocious hug. The puppy, who was still in her arms, looked at him, as if to say 'Save me!'

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The teen said excitedly as her dad took the startled puppy from her arms.

Dave watched with a smile as she did an excited little dance as she sat on the sofa. "Are you ready to hear my conditions?" He finally asked.

The smile fell from the ecstatic teen's face. "Conditions?"

Dave nodded. "I have two of them."

"Okaaaaaaay," she said hesitantly, wondering what she would have to do in order to keep the dog she'd grown to love.

"First, I get to take him hunting with me when he's old enough. He looks like he has some retriever in him and he'll probably be great at retrieving ducks," Dave said with some excitement in his voice.

Lucy scrunched up her face and thought for a moment; she hated that her dad killed innocent animals for sport but she really wanted to keep the puppy, so she finally nodded in agreement. "Okay. I think what you do is gross, but he's going to be your dog too so, yeah, okay. What's the second condition?"

"That you agree to attend family counseling with me."

"What?" Lucy asked, shocked by what he had just suggested; her dad didn't do therapy. Heck, a few years ago he'd been ordered to see an FBI shrink because of some case he'd worked on and the therapist had almost resigned after two sessions with him. "Why?" She asked. "We're doing okay, aren't we?"

Dave nodded in agreement. "I think we are, but we still need to work through some things and we need help with that."

"What kind of things?"

"How about the fact that you're having nightmares almost every night?" He asked. "You also get upset when you hear other parents yell at their kids, loud noises make you jump out of your skin, and you still feel like you need to hide things from me." He looked at the dog when he mentioned the last item.

"So I'm the problem? I'm just a big ol' mess?" Lucy asked defensively.

"That's not what I'm saying, Peanut," her dad said gently as he tried to reassure her. "I have a lot of things to work on too, that's why I want us to go together." He could see his daughter mulling the offer over, so he decided to sweeten the deal. "If you do this, I'll pay for his food and vet bills." He had been planning on doing that anyway, but she didn't need to know that. "Plus, I'll help walk him every day."

"Okay," Lucy said. "I'll go to family counseling with you." After she reluctantly agreed to his terms, a smile slowly spread across her face and she hugged him. "Thanks dad, you're the best."

Dave returned the hug but it was cut short by the dog wanting some attention. Lucy bent down, picked him up, and cuddled him to her chest again. "So what are you going to name him?" He asked.

"Mudgie," she responded without hesitation.

"Mudgie?" Dave repeated, surprised. He'd expected a more mainstream name like Buddy or Max. "Why Mudgie?"

"The family that had been close to adopting him had a little boy and he'd named him Mudgie, so I guess I want that name to stick," Lucy explained.

Dave smiled gently at her. "Mudgie it is then."


	28. Chapter 28

_Chapter 28_

"We're going someplace fun for dinner tonight, right mommy?" Henry Jareau asked from the backseat of Dave's 's play opened the following night, and Dave, JJ, and Henry were on the way to her school to pick her up after her final dress rehearsal. They were going to surprise her by taking her out for dinner that night. To JJ's surprise and delight, it had been Dave's suggestion and not hers.

"We are Henry, I promise," she said as they pulled into the school parking lot. They were running a little late and she wasn't surprised to see the parking lot filled with kids from the play. What did surprise both her and Dave was the fact that Lucy was leaning into a car via a passenger window and talking to the driver. To Dave's knowledge, none of his daughter's friends could legally drive yet, so who was she talking to? The windows were tinted, so he couldn't see the driver, but there was no way he was going to ignore what he'd seen.

Lucy finally saw his car and gave them a deer in the headlights look before recovering her composure. She said goodbye to whomever she had been talking to and they drove away while she got into the backseat of her dad's SUV.

"Luceeeeeeee!" Henry yelled excitedly from his booster seat.

"Hey Henry," she greeted him with a hug. "This is a surprise," she said brightly, glad that she wasn't going to have to take the Metro home, but a bit startled that JJ and Henry were also there to pick her up.

"I thought it would be nice if we all went out for dinner tonight," her dad told her, clearing that mystery up for her. "It'll have to be somewhere kid friendly for Henry though."

"That's fine," she told her dad as she put her seatbelt on. "Hi JJ."

"Hi Lucy, how was school?"

"Meh," the teen shrugged. "It was school."

"Who were you talking to when we pulled up?" Dave asked as he navigated his way through the ever-present DC traffic.

"Just a friend. What about Mudgie, he's going to have to go out," Lucy said, trying to change the subject. Unfortunately for her, her father was a skilled interrogator and didn't fall for her tactic.

"I stopped at home to change this afternoon and I took him out then, he'll be fine. Do I know this friend you were talking to?"

"No; you don't know every single one of my friends," Lucy said, irritated.

JJ grinned in the front seat. "Oooooh, I bet it's a guy friend," she teased. "Tell me Lucy, is this friend of yours hot?"

Dave shot his girlfriend a dirty look. "It had better not be a guy," he said. "We've talked about this, Lucy; no dating until you're at least sixteen, and even then it'll be group dating for awhile."

"I know that!" the teen said loudly, once again hating her dad's protectiveness. She understood that he'd seen a lot of messed up things in his life, but did he constantly have to project his issues onto her? "You've made your rules about dating crystal clear, and it wasn't a guy friend, it was just a friend! God, would the two of you please back off?"

Both JJ and Dave were taken aback by her tone, but it was Dave who spoke. "You are coming dangerously close to crossing the line, Lucy," he said sternly as he glanced at her in the rear-view mirror. "I suggest you change your attitude before you cross it entirely."

"Sorry," Lucy mumbled with a huff as she slid down on her seat and pouted; did he really have to scold her like she was a five-year old, especially in front of Henry and JJ? As much as she liked that he was paying more attention to her, she wished he didn't have to be in her business all of the time. Did he really expect to know all of her friends? Did he have to be so nosy and pushy? She wanted to tell him to back off, but she was afraid if she did, he would go back to not paying any attention to her at all. What she really wanted to do was settle into her bad mood but, fortunately for everyone in the car, Henry's happy and incessant chatter drew her attention and she talked to him until they arrived at the restaurant.

xxxxxxxxxx

Five hours later, Lucy had just changed into her pajamas and gotten into bed when there was a knock at the door. "Come on in, dad," she called out in normal tone of voice; spending the evening at a kiddie restaurant had improved her mood and she was no longer irritated with her father.

"All set for bed, Peanut?" He asked as he came into the room. He sat down on the edge of her bed as she sat up and rested her back against the headboard.

The teen nodded. "Yup, Mr. Collins told all of us to get at least eight hours of sleep tonight."

"That's good advice," her dad agreed. "You know that whatever happens tomorrow night, I'm proud of you, right?"

Lucy nodded and said, with a conviction she didn't feel, "I know that," she said breezily.

"Do you really?" He pushed. "Because JJ told me the two of you had a conversation tonight."

"Oh my God! Can that woman EVER keep her mouth shut?" Lucy asked loudly, clearly angered by, what she perceived to be, another breach of confidence. Earlier that night, while Dave and Henry were playing skee-ball, Lucy had told JJ that she hoped her dad would be proud of her if she did well in the play. JJ had tried to tell her that her dad was always proud of her, but she hadn't believed it and had simply nodded and agreed with the older woman. She'd thought the conversation would stay between the two of them, but obviously she had been mistaken.

"Hey," Dave said, putting his hand up to try and stall her rant. "She didn't tell me anything specific, only that you wanted to make me proud by doing well in the play."

"Oh," the teen said, somewhat mollified by his explanation, but still a bit wary of confiding in JJ again.

"Peanut, you could miss every note in your songs and fall flat on your face tomorrow night and I would still be proud of you; I always am!"

"Yeah, right," she said sarcastically. "I've gotten into so much trouble at school that Father Jimmy once joked about getting me my own detention desk, my grades suck, and...and with everything that happened with mom, how you possibly be proud of me? _I'm_ not proud of me!"

"Well you should be," Dave said firmly, "Because I sure as hell am! Okay, your grades aren't the best, but they're not horrible, and you're trying hard to bring them up-"

"How do you know that?" Lucy interrupted. He was right, she was working her ass off to improve her grades now that she could concentrate more on her schoolwork, but she hadn't exactly shared that tidbit of information with him. "Did Father Jimmy tell you that?" God help the holy man if he had, because they had an agreement that he would never talk to her dad about her academic work outside of a school setting.

"It's called parent-teacher conferences, Luce," he said dryly, "and I was one of the key players there."

"_You_ went to a parent-teacher conference?"

Dave nodded, "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yeah, it is," she responded. "Have you ever been to one before?"

"Well, no," he admitted. "But it was very informative. Do you know what every single one of your teachers said about you?" Lucy shook her head. "They said your school work had vastly improved, along with your attitude."

"Yeah, well, I want to go to a half-way decent college in a couple of years and I know I'll need the grades to get in."

Dave smiled, "And that's one of the many reasons why I'm so proud of you. Plus, other than the thing a few weeks ago, you haven't gotten into any trouble at school lately, and that is spectacular."

"Well, again, that has to do with the whole 'wanting to go to college' thing," Lucy told him.

"And maybe it's because you don't have to act out to get my attention anymore?" Her dad asked.

"Maybe," the teen conceded, blushing a little.

"As for everything that has happened with your mother? That is absolutely, 100% NOT your fault; you shouldn't be ashamed of what she did to you and that has no bearing, whatsoever, on my pride in you. Hell, if anything I'm proud of you for being the great person that you are _in spite_ of your mother's abuse and my failings as a father."

"Whatever," she mumbled. "You're getting better."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Peanut," Dave said with a smile as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "I was going to wait until tomorrow night to give this to you, but maybe you could use it now."

"What is it?" She asked as she took the box from him.

"Open it," he directed and she did. In the box was a thin, gold chain with a pendant of the two masks that represent the theater; the tragedy and the comedy.

"It's beautiful," she said softly as she picked it up and ran her finger over the pendant.

"I don't know if you can get away with wearing it under your costume tomorrow night-"

"I can," she told him. "Thanks dad." She reached out to hug him which, truth be told, still felt a little weird, especially since they hadn't really been huggers since she was a little girl, but the moment felt right.

Dave was surprised by the show of affection from his daughter; usually he initiated the hugs and then she awkwardly responded to him, but this time she was the one holding out her arms to him. He gently folded her into an embrace. "You're welcome, honey; you deserve something to mark this occasion in your life." He reluctantly let her go and then studied her briefly. "Do you feel better about tomorrow?"

Lucy thought for a second and then shook her head. "Nope, I'm still nervous as hell."

"Wanna watch a movie? Maybe it'll take your mind off of your nerves," he suggested.

"No thanks, I think I'm going to try to sleep. Maybe I'll play some calming music to help me."

"Okay Peanut, goodnight, I love you," he said as he kissed her forehead.

"Love you too dad."

xxxxxxxxxx

The next night, Dave jumped to his feet in applause as the last note of the Les Miserables musical played. He noticed he wasn't the only one who was standing. No, the entire audience was applauding and cheering wildly, including JJ, Henry, and the entire BAU team.

"I had no idea she was so good," he told JJ in awe, still clapping as the entire cast took a group bow. "Not only did she sing well, but her acting was out of this world!" He knew most parents thought their kid was the best at everything, but in this case Dave didn't think he was exaggerating; his daughter really _was_ that good!

JJ nodded her agreement. "She put a lot of emotion into her scenes; did I see you wiping away a tear during her character's death scene?"

"Hey, you try seeing your kid die on stage and _not_ become emotional," he shot back. "Would you have remained dry-eyed if it had been Henry up there?"JJ didn't have a chance to answer because, at that moment, the cast members began taking their individual curtain calls."It looks like you're up, Agent Rossi," Garcia said with a smile. Having been to many professional plays in his life, Dave knew that most actresses receive flowers from their loved ones during their curtain call, so he had gotten Lucy a dozen roses. As he made his way to the stage, he was glad he had gotten them because he saw that many other parents had had the same idea and he would have felt like a schmuck if he'd been the only parent without flowers.

He waited while five cast members took their bows, and then it was his daughter's turn. He had to swallow a lump in his throat when he saw the beaming look of absolute joy on her face; it had been a long time, if ever, that he had seen her look so happy and carefree. As she took a second bow to almost deafening applause, he crossed the stage and met her in the middle.

"Dad!" She said in happy surprise. She was shocked when he handed her the bouquet of flowers; she didn't think he would know about the flower tradition and she'd steeled herself to be the only actress without them.

"You were wonderful, Peanut," he told her as he kissed her cheek. He pulled back and made his way off the stage so she could take her final bow and, as he did, he saw tears of happiness in her eyes.

Once the remaining cast members had been acknowledged, the audience filtered into the hallway outside of the auditorium. Since they all wanted to congratulate Lucy in person, the BAU team waited with Dave. "Is it me, or have high schools gotten smaller over the years?" Derek asked as he glanced around at the lockers. "Everything always seemed bigger to me."

"Or maybe it's because you've physically grown since you were eighteen," Reid suggested. "Did you know the average male doesn't reach his full height until-"

"Lucy!" Dave called out, interrupting Reid's monologue on the human growth process. "Over here!" He said loudly, waving to her. Lucy saw him, smiled, and began making her way to the group but, before she got halfway there, she was stopped by a shy looking boy. The group, which now included Father Jimmy, watched as the kid talked for a moment and then handed her a small bouquet of flowers. Then, Lucy smiled, said something to the boy and he hugged her.

"Awwww," Garcia said as everyone else eyed Dave nervously.

"What. The. Hell. Was. That?" He asked through clenched teeth as he glared at the teen from across the hallway. "He touched her; that little punk _touched_ my daughter."

"Dave, you need to relax," Hotch told him, silently thanking the heavens that he had a son.

"I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen, Aaron," the older man snarled quietly.

"Oh pooh, Agent Rossi," Garcia said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's not like he threw her down on the ground and ravished her right in front of everyone. He-" Garcia stopped midsentence when she saw the effect her words were having on the senior profiler; his face had turned an unnatural shade of red and his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. Thankfully for the technical analyst, Derek pulled her closer to him as JJ stepped into the fray.

"You need to calm down, Dave; you don't want to ruin this night for your daughter by making a scene," she reminded him as she rubbed his back in order to soothe him, like she would Henry.

"I'm not going to make a scene, JJ," he told her in a deceptively calm voice. "I'm just going to go over there and have a nice chat with him."

Father Jimmy snorted loudly. "No you're not; I refuse to allow any acts of violence to occur on school grounds."

Dave whirled around and faced the holy man. "And what the hell do you know about this, Jimmy? Are they seeing each other during school hours? Do they eat lunch together? Do they-"

"I'm going to stop you right there, old man," the priest told his best friend. "First, you know I have an agreement with Lucy not to talk to you about anything school related."

"But we're on school grounds, so *technically*-" But the priest continued as if Dave hadn't interrupted him.

"And second, I try not to know about the romantic involvements of my students; that's what teachers, counselors, and the school nurse are for."

"Then what am I paying tuition-" Dave's tirade was cut off by a cheery greeting.

"I can't believe you all came!" Lucy said happily as she joined the group. Everyone praised her performance and the teen blushed, not quite sure how to take the almost overwhelming praise. After everyone was done, she approached her father, who had been very quiet since she arrived. "Thank you for the beautiful flowers," she said as she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

At that moment, Dave decided to put what he'd seen between her and the boy into a box in his head. JJ was right, he didn't want to ruin this night for Lucy; she deserved to be happy. "You were wonderful up there, Peanut," he said as he gave her a hug. "You had me in tears more than once."

"Really?"

"Really," he nodded and then looked around the crowded hallway. "How about we move this to someplace less crowded. We could all grab some dessert; my treat," he suggested.

Derek grinned. "If' Rossi's buying, I'm in." Everyone else agreed and they moved to leave.

"Ooooh, can we go to Nielsen's?" Lucy asked excitedly. Nielsen's had the best ice cream in the world and Lucy went there every time she had the chance.

Dave nodded affirmatively and then remembered the conversation from the previous day's car ride."You can even invite your friends if you want." He wanted to get to know her friends better so he knew who she was spending time with.

Lucy pulled out her phone and began texting her friends. As she did, she thought back to when she first got the part in the play. Back then, she had hoped that her dad _might_ show up to one of her performances, if she was lucky, but instead she had him, Henry, and the BAU team on opening night. At that moment, her life was almost perfect.


End file.
